Relative clauses

Relative clauses

1. Defining

   • Gives essential information about the subject No commas
   • Relative pronouns
     • People
       • Who; that
       • The boy who is playing is county champion The teacher that I met is Head of Maths
     • Things
       • Which; that
       • Colours which can be worn are black and grey The book that I recommend costs 8€

2. Non-defining

   • Gives additional but non-essential information. This information could be omitted whithout affecting the sense of the sentence. Between commas.
   • Relative pronouns
     • People
       • Who
       • Ned, who plays the violin, is living above a music shop
     • Things
       • Which
       • The new brand of shampoo, which is selling well, contains only natural ingredients

3. Other relative pronouns

   • Whom
     • Formal Can only be used as the object of a verb or with a preposition
     • The people for whom this new housing development is planned are unhappy about the lack of public transport
   • Whose
     • To refer to both people and things
     • This revolutionary new car, whose energy comes from solar panels, is expected to go into production shortly