Relative clauses provide additional information about a noun or pronoun in the main clause. They are introduced by relative pronouns such as who, whom, whose, which, where, or when. Defining relative clauses are essential to the meaning of the sentence, while non-defining clauses provide non-essential information set off by commas. Different relative pronouns are used to refer to people, things, places, time, or possession.

1. RELATIVE CLAUSES
- Subordinate clauses that give more information about
the person or thing mentioned in the main clause.
- Introduced by relative pronouns.
- The relative pronoun always comes after the noun it
describes and can function as the subject or the object of
the clause.

2. Defining relative clauses (no commas)
- They provide information that is essential.
- Without them, the sentences would be incomplete
- WHO (WHOM) / THAT / WHICH / WHERE / WHEN / WHOSE

3. WHO
- We use it to refer to people.- It can be replaced by
THAT.
- Formal language: we sometimes use WHOM when it is
the object of the verb in the relative clause
‘There are people who / that survived the earthquake’ (subject)
‘We talked to the woman whom we had helped’ (object /
formal)
WHOSE
- We use it to refer to possession.

4. WHICH
- We use it to refer to things or animals.
- It can be replaced by THAT.
‘I saw the dog which / that was trapped in the building’ (subject)

5. WHERE
- We use it to refer to places.
‘That is the place where we can be safe’
WHEN
- We use it to refer to time.
- It can be replaced by THAT.
‘Monday was the day when / that the hurricane hit’

6. - When the relative pronoun is the object of the relative
clause, we can omit the relative pronouns WHO,
WHICH, WHEN and THAT.
‘There are not many people (who / that) she doesn’t like’
‘This is the disaster (which / that) I fear the most’
‘I will never forget the day (when) my sister was born’

7. Non- defining relative clauses (commas)
- They provide information that is NOT essential to
understand the sentence.
- They always go between comas.
- WHO / WHICH / WHERE / WHEN / WHOSE (they can NEVER
be omitted or substituted by THAT)
‘London, which is the capital of England, is one of the largest cities in the world’
‘Tom Cruise, who has starred a lot of films, is a famous American actor’