Using Relative Clauses

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In this post we will take a look at using relative clauses and relative pronouns. First, we will look at the idea of defining and then non defining clauses.

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What are Relative Clauses?

Relative clauses are parts of a sentence that provide additional information about a noun or pronoun in the main clause. We start a relative clause with a relative pronoun.  We use these relative clauses to help connect ideas within a sentence by giving more detail about a specific person, place, thing, or idea.

For people we can use

  • who
  • whom
  • that

For things we use

  • which 
  • that

Other relative examples

  • where – location
  • when  – time
  • whose – possession
  • why – reason

In English there are two types of relative clauses.

  • Defining relative clauses 
  • Non-defining relative clauses

How to use Defining Relative Clauses

These define or give important information which tells us exactly what is being referred to. Let’s look at an example of this.

In our example we combine two pieces of information.

  • The woman is a doctor.
  • The woman lives next door. 

The woman who/that lives next door is a doctor.

In this sentence there is specific information about this person. It we omit or leave out this clause the information is completely different and we have a simple sentence. We can use both who and that in this type of clause. 

The woman is a doctor.

People ( whom)
The person whom/that you met is my boss.  

Whom is the object form but is less commonly used nowadays and who is more usual especially in speech. 

Things
This is the phone which/that I lost last week.

Both forms are used with things and that is extremely common in speaking.

Possession
The artist whose paintings I love is famous.

Place
This is the place where we went skiing.

Time
I remember the day when we met.

Reason
The reason why I left is personal.

How to use Non-Defining Relative Clauses

These clauses are also known as extra information clauses and these non-defining clauses add extra information. They are separated by commas in writing, and by a pause in speaking. If you remove the relative clause, the sentence still makes sense.

Let’s look at some examples.

My brother, who lives in Australia, is coming to visit me.
The Eiffel Tower, which was built in 1889, is in Paris.

As we can see the basic information in the sentence does not change and the clauses here add extra details.  In addition, there are some other differences between defining and non-defining clauses.

  1. We must always use a pronoun
  2. In writing we use commas to separate the clause from the rest of the sentence
  3. We only use who for people
  4. We only use which for things
Examples
My old house, which was also very big, was very cold.
My neighbours, whose kids play football with my son, have bought a new car.
The Regent Hotel, where we got married, has closed down.
December, when many people celebrate Christmas, is a summer month for the southern hemisphere.

Which and That

As we have seen we can use which or that with both people and things in defining relative clauses. There are also situations when we can leave then out or omit them.

We cannot miss do this with the relative pronoun if it is the subject of the clause.   Look at thsi exmple.

That’s the woman who/that bought my car.

Here the woman is the subject of the relative clause and we need a pronoun.

That’s the car (that/which) I used to own.

In this example the car is the object of the clause and we can omit it if we prefer.

Why do we use Relative Clauses?

Relative clauses are important in English for several reasons:

They provide essential or extra information
– Relative clauses allow speakers and writers to add important details about a noun or pronoun without starting a new sentence.

More complex sentences.
– As relative clauses combine two ideas into one sentence, you can create more complex and varied sentence structures. This can improve both writing style and speaking fluency.

Improve coherence and organisation
– By connecting clauses directly to the nouns or pronouns they modify, relative clauses improve how you express your ideas, in speaking and writing.

Vary sentence styles
– Using relative clauses helps avoid repetitive or very simple sentence structures, making writing or speaking more interesting.

They can help you perform better in exams
-By using these types of clauses you can achieve better scores in exams. It’s also common to find exercises where you need to identify specific pronouns.