What is a relative clause?

A defining relative clause gives necessary / essential information about someone, something or somewhere. For example;

When someone says;

* I know the woman. ( Which woman????? )

But if she/he says like that, we can understand which woman is mentioned.

* I know the woman who is talking to Jack.

( It means I know the woman and that woman is talking to Jack.)

Relative pronouns

• who - for people

• which - for things/ animals

• that - for people / things / animals (instead of who - which)

• whose - possessives

  wh-w

  ​

who / that

We can use who or that to talk about people. that is more common and a bit more informal.

- I am looking for a secretary. She can speak German and use computer well.

- I am looking for a secretary who/ that can speak German and use computer well.

* Instead of making two sentences, we can use a relative pronoun

who /that to make one sentence having the same meaning. We omit (delete) she as it is for a secretary because we don't use the words having the same meaning as a repetition in one sentence.

Relative clauses can be after the object of the sentence or after the subject of the sentence.

• She worked for a man. He was a famous lawyer. = She worked for a man who / that was a famous lawyer.

• The people were very friendly. I met at John's party. = The people who/ that I met at John's party were very friendly.

which / that

We can use which or that to talk about things. that is more common and a bit more informal.

- She loves the books. They have happy endings.

She loves the books which / that have happy endings.

- The laptop has started making a strange noise! I bought it last month.

The laptop which / that I bought last month has started making a strange noise!

Omitting a relative pronoun

Sometimes we can leave out the relative pronoun. For example, we can usually leave out who, which or that if it is followed by a subject.

The assistant [that] we met yesterday was really kind.

  (we = subject, can omit that)

We can't leave it out if it is followed by a verb.

The assistant that helped us yesterday was really kind.

  (helped = verb, can't omit that)

Dictionary definitions

We can use relative clauses to define a word. For example;

-A butterfly is an animal which has colorful wings.

- A waiter is someone who serves drinks and food in restaurants and cafes.

- A vase is something which is a container used for holding cut flowers or for decoration.

​whose

​We use whose for possessives. We can't omit whose.

• ​The man is a good writer. His wife is a music teacher at our school.

• The man whose wife is a music teacher at our school is a good writer. ​

• ​The tree is an oak. Its branches shade my kitchen window.

• The tree whose branches shade my kitchen window is an oak. ​

Subject | Subject

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