Defining relative clauses

Relative clauses – 

defining relative clauses

Relative clauses add extra information to a sentence by defining a noun. They are usually divided into two types – defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses.

Defining relative clauses

Look at this sentence:

·        The woman who lives next door works in a bank.

‘who lives next door’ is a defining relative clause. It tells us which woman we are talking about.

Look at some more examples:

·        Look out! There’s the dog that bit my brother.

·        The film that we saw last week was awful.

·        This is the skirt I bought in the sales.

Can you identify the defining relative clauses? They tell us which dog, which film and which skirt we are talking about.

Relative pronouns

Relative clauses are usually introduced by a relative pronoun (usually who, which, that, but when, where and whose are also possible)

With defining relative clauses we can use who or that to talk about people. There is no difference in meaning between these, though 'who' tends to be preferred in more formal use.

·        She’s the woman who cuts my hair.

·        She’s the woman that cuts my hair.

We can use that or which to talk about things. Again, there is no difference in meaning between these, though 'which' tends to be preferred in more formal use.

·        This is the dog that bit my brother.

·        This is the dog which bit my brother.

Simplifying defining relative clauses

Defining relative clauses can be simplified, or reduced, in several ways:

1.     If the relative pronoun is the object of the verb then it can be omitted:

·        This is the skirt that I bought in the sales.

·        This is the skirt which I bought in the sales.

·        This is the skirt I bought in the sales.

In this sentence ‘skirt’ is the object of the verb (buy). ‘I’ is the subject. When the relative pronoun is the object, it can be omitted.

Note that if the relative pronoun is the subject of the verb then it cannot be omitted:

·        This is the dog that bit my brother.

·        This is the dog which bit my brother.

BUT NOT

·        This is the dog bit my brother.

2.     If the relative clause contains the verb 'be' + any of the following then it can be reduced:

(a) be + an adjective phrase

·        The man who is interested in your car will telephone later.

·        The man interested in your car will telephone later.

Note that other verbs are possible here as well as 'be', such as 'seem', 'look' and 'appear'.

(b) be + a prepositional phrase

·        The books which are on the table have been read.

·        The books on the table have been read.

(c) be + a past participle [a passive form]

·        A person who has been tricked once is careful the next time.

·        A person tricked once is careful the next time.

(d) be + a present participle [a continuous form]

·        The family who are living in the house are very rich.

·        The family living in the house are very rich.

Exercise 1 - Defining relative clauses

Choose the correct answer.

1. A hotel is a place  which where  people stay when they're on holiday.
2. What's the name of the woman  who whose  lives in that house?
3. What do you call someone  which that  writes computer programs?
4. A waiter is a person  that whose  job is to serve customers in a restaurant.
5. Overalls are clothes  where which  people wear to protect their clothes when they are working.
6. Is that the shop  where that  you bought your new laptop?
7. He's the man  who whose  son plays football for Manchester Utd.
8. Hal didn't get the job  that where  he applied for.

non defining relative clauses

Definition: 

A non-defining relative clause (also called non-identifying relative clauses or non-restrictive relative clauses) provide interesting ADDITIONAL information which is not essential to understanding the meaning of the sentence. It tells us more about someone or something, but do not define it.

For example:

• Elephants that love mice are very unusual.
  * This tells us which elephants we are talking about.
• Elephants, which are large and grey, can sometimes be found in zoos.
  * This gives us some extra information about elephants - we are talking about all elephants, not just one type or group.
• My sister, who lives in France, is coming to stay with me next week.
  * "who lives in France" is not essential, which means that I only have one sister and she does not need to be defined by the "relative clause")

Punctuation Correct punctuation is essential in non-defining relative clauses. If the non-defining relative clause occurs in the middle of a sentence, a comma is put before the relative pronoun and at the end of the clause. If the non-defining relative clause occurs at the end of a sentence, a comma is put before the relative pronoun.

For example

• My friend John, who went to the same school as me, has just written a best-selling novel.

Relative pronouns The following relative pronouns are used in non-defining clauses:

	Person	Thing	Place
Subject	who	which
Object	who/whom	which	where
Possessive	whose

Notes:

In non-defining clauses, you cannot use "that" instead of "who", "whom" or "which".

You cannot leave out the relative pronoun, even when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause:

For example:

• He gave me the letter, which was in a blue envelope.
• He gave me the letter, which I read immediately.

Non-defining clauses can be introduced by expressions like "all of", "many of" + relative pronoun:

	Person	Thing
all of	+ whom	+ which
any of	+ whom	+ which
few of	+ whom	+ which
both of	+ whom	+ which
each of	+ whom	+ which
either of	+ whom	+ which
half of	+ whom	+ which
many of	+ whom	+ which
most of	+ whom	+ which
much of	+ whom	+ which
none of	+ whom	+ which
one of	+ whom	+ which
two of etc…	+ whom	+ which

For example:

• There were a lot of people at the party, many of whom I had known for years.
• He was carrying his belongings, many of which were broken.

The relative pronoun "which" at the beginning of a non-defining relative clause, can refer to all the information contained in the previous part of the sentence, rather than to just one word.

For example:

• Chris did really well in his exams, which was a big surprise.
  * = the fact that he did well in his exams was a big surprise.
• An elephant and a mouse fell in love, which is most unusual.
  * = the fact that they fell in love is unusual).

Examples:

• Mrs. Jackson, who is very intelligent, lives on the corner.
• We stopped at the museum, which we’d never been into.
• I’ve just met Susan, whose husband works in London.
• I spoke to Fred, who explained the problem.

• He gave me the letter, which was in a blue envelope. (proposición explicativa: había solo una carta y era azul. Es necesario emplear "which")
• He gave me the letter which/that was in a blue envelope. (proposición especificativa: había varias cartas de distintos colores y él me dio la azul. "Which" puede sustituirse por "that". Las comas desaparecen.)
• He gave me the letter, which I read immediately. (proposición explicativa: había solo una carta. Aunque "which" es el objeto de "read", debe incluirse en la oración.)
• Stratford-on-Avon, which many people have written about, is Shakespeare's birthplace. (Las preposiciones suelen colocarse al final de la oración de relativo.)
• Stratford-on-Avon, about which many people have written, is Shakespeare's birthplace. (En inglés escrito formal, también es posible colocar la preposición antes del pronombre.)

Exercise 2 - Non-defining relative clauses

Complete the sentences with whose, who, which, or where.

1. Dublin,  is the capital of Ireland, is my favourite city.
2. Amelia,  mother is from Shanghai, speaks English and Chinese fluently.
3. This smartphone,  I bought last week, takes great photos.
4. Buckingham Palace,  the Queen of England lives, is in the centre of London.
5. Ferraris,  are made in Italy, are very expensive.
6. Russell Crowe, starred in Gladiator, was born in New Zealand.
7. Emily,  brother is a singer, is in my English class.
8. Mr Kemp,  teaches physics, is going to retire next year.