DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

• What are relative clauses?
• They are subordinate adjective sentences that tell us something about a noun.
• Examples: This is the house that Jack built. Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

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• Let’s look at this example: This is the house that Jack built. Here, the house is the antecedent and that Jack built is the relative clause that defines it.
• Without the relative clause we wouldn’t know which house we’re talking about: That’s why it is a defining clause, we need it to fully understand the sentence. Defining relative clauses are not put in commas.

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• What’s a relative pronoun?
• A relative pronoun is the part of the clause which refers to the antecedent: This is the house that Jack built. In the example, that is the relative pronoun: This is the house. Jack built the house The relative pronoun always introduces the relative clause.

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• RELATIVE PRONOUNS:
• WHO We use who as the relative pronoun when the antecedent is a person or persons.
• e.g. 1.- A clown is a person who makes you laugh.
• 2.- You are the boy who I love. In example 1, who is the subject of the relative clause.
• In example 2, who is the object of the relative clause.

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• RELATIVE PRONOUNS:
• WHICH We use which as the relative pronoun when the antecedent is not a person.
• e.g. 1.- Peter took the book which was on your desk.
• 2.- Somebody found the puppy which you lost. In example 1, which is the subject of the relative clause.
• In example 2, which is the object of the relative clause.

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• RELATIVE PRONOUNS:
• THAT We can use THAT as the relative pronoun, instead of who or which, but only in defining relative clauses.
• e.g. 1.- A clown is a person that makes you laugh.
• 2.- Somebody found the puppy that you lost.
• 3.- Peter took the book that was on your desk.
• 4.- You are the boy that I love.

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• OMISSION OF THE RELATIVE PRONOUN
• The relative pronouns who, which and that in a defining relative clause can be omitted (that is, they are treated as understood) when they function as the object of a verb or the object of a preposition. They are never omitted when they function as the subject.
• e.g. Somebody found the puppy you lost.
• You are the boy I love.

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• OTHER RELATIVE PRONOUNS:
• WHOSE WHOSE is used for possession for people, animals and things. e.g. The boy whose bike you found is here.
• This sentence originates from these two: The boy is here. You found the boy’s (his) bike.

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• RELATIVE ADVERBS
• A relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition. This often makes the sentence easier to understand.
• This is the shop in which I bought my bike. → This is the shop where I bought my bike.

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• RELATIVE ADVERBS:
• WHERE AND WHEN We use WHERE instead of in/at/on which to refer to a place: e.g. In the town where I was born, lived a man who sailed to sea.(where=in which)
• We use WHEN instead of in/on/at which to refer to a time expression: e.g. It was raining the day when I got married. (when=on which)