Систематизация знаний Relative Clauses

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Relative pronouns and relative clauses

The relative pronouns are:

We use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses. Relative clauses tell us more about people and things:

Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
This is the house which Jack built.
Marie Curie is the woman that discovered radium.

We use:

• who and whom for people

• which for things

• that for people or things.

Two kinds of relative clause

There are two kinds of relative clause:

1.  We use relative clauses to make clear which person or thing we are talking about:

Marie Curie is the woman who discovered radium.
This is the house which Jack built.

In this kind of relative clause, we can use that instead of who or which:

Marie Curie is the woman that discovered radium.
This is the house that Jack built.

We can leave out the pronoun if it is the object of the relative clause:

This is the house that Jack built. (that is the object of built)

Relative pronouns 1

Relative pronouns 2

2.  We also use relative clauses to give more information about a person, thing or situation:

Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
We had fish and chips, which I always enjoy.
I met Rebecca in town yesterday, which was a nice surprise.

With this kind of relative clause, we use commas (,) to separate it from the rest of the sentence.

Relative pronouns 3

Relative pronouns 4

Level: intermediate

whose and whom

We use whose as the possessive form of who:

This is George, whose brother went to school with me.

We sometimes use whom as the object of a verb or preposition:

This is George, whom you met at our house last year.
(whom is the object of met)

This is George’s brother, with whom I went to school.
(whom is the object of with)

but nowadays we normally use who:

This is George, who you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, who I went to school with.

Relative pronouns 5

Relative pronouns with prepositions

When who(m) or which have a preposition, the preposition can come at the beginning of the clause:

I had an uncle in Germany, from who(m) I inherited a bit of money.
We bought a chainsaw, with which we cut up all the wood.

or at the end of the clause:

I had an uncle in Germany, who(m) I inherited a bit of money from.
We bought a chainsaw, which we cut all the wood up with.

But when that has a preposition, the preposition always comes at the end:

I didn't know the uncle that I inherited the money from.
We can't find the chainsaw that we cut all the wood up with.

Relative pronouns 6

when and where

We can use when with times and where with places to make it clear which time or place we are talking about:

England won the World Cup in 1966. It was the year when we got married.
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day when the tsunami happened.

Do you remember the place where we caught the train?
Stratford-upon-Avon is the town where Shakespeare was born.

We can leave out when:

England won the World Cup in 1966. It was the year we got married.
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day the tsunami happened.

We often use quantifiers and numbers with relative pronouns: 

She has three brothers, two of whom are in the army.
I read three books last week, one of which I really enjoyed.
There were some good programmes on the radio, none of which I listened to.

EXERCISES

Learn Relative Clauses with Examples and Exercises

What Is A Relative Clause?

A relative clause is a phrase that adds information to a sentence. All relative clauses describe a noun, and they begin with one of these relative pronouns or relative adverbs.

Relative Pronouns

• who (to describe people – subject)
  The woman who works in the bank is my neighbor.

• whom (to describe people – object)
  My cousins, one of whom is a doctor, live in England.

• whose (to describe possession)
  The man whose car was stolen went to the police station.

• that (to describe things – defining relative clauses)
  I’m selling the computer that I bought in the U.S.

• which (to describe things – non-defining relative clauses)
  I’m selling this computer, which has a 250-GB hard drive, for $500.

Relative Adverbs

• when (to describe times)
  My favorite season is fall, when all the leaves change color.

• where (to describe places)
  I visited the neighborhood where I grew up

• why (to give a reason)
  Do you know the reason why the stores are closed today?

Using relative clauses helps you create better sentences in English

Relative Clauses = Better Sentences In English

Here is an example of some English sentences without relative clauses:

• Yesterday I met a man. He works in the circus.

• I bought a cell phone. It has internet access.

• There’s the restaurant. I ate at that restaurant last night.

These sentences are correct, but they are very short and simple. You can use relative clauses to make your sentences in English sound more fluent and natural:

• Yesterday I met a man who works in the circus.

• I bought a cell phone that has internet access.

• There’s the restaurant where I ate last night.

Defining And Non-Defining Relative Clauses

Non-defining relative clauses add EXTRA information to the sentence.

Defining relative clauses add ESSENTIAL information to the sentence.

You can see if a relative clause is defining or non-defining by removing it from the sentence. If you remove a non-defining relative clause, the sentence still has the same meaning. If you remove a defining relative clause, the sentence has a different meaning or is incomplete.

Example of a sentence with a NON-DEFINING relative clause:

• My brother, who lives in California, is an engineer.

If you remove “who lives in California,” the sentence still has the same meaning:

• My brother is an engineer.

The relative clause “who lives in California” is extra information.

Example of a sentence with a DEFINING relative clause:

• That’s the student who failed English class three times.

If you remove “who failed English class three times,” the sentence is incomplete:

• That’s the student.

Therefore, the relative clause “who failed English class three times” is essential information, because it defines which student, specifically, we are talking about.

In written English, use a comma before and after non-defining relative clauses.

Learn when to use “which” and “that” in relative clauses

Which Or That?

Use which for non-defining relative clauses, and use a comma before it.

Use that for defining relative clauses, and don’t use a comma before it.

• The bananas that I bought on Monday are rotten.

• The bananas, which I bought on Monday, are rotten.

In the first case, it’s possible that we have two types of bananas in the house:

• Older bananas that I bought on Monday

• Newer bananas that I bought on Wednesday

…and that only the first bananas are rotten, but the second bananas are not rotten.

In the second case, all the bananas in the house were bought on Monday, and they are all rotten.

Again, to decide if a clause is defining or non-defining, try removing it from the sentence:

• I read all the books that I borrowed from the library.
  Without clause: I read all the books.
  (sentence is incomplete – WHAT books?)

• The new Stephen King book, which I borrowed from the library, is very good.
  Without clause: The new Stephen King book is very good.
  (sentence is complete. The “library” part was only an extra detail)

Choose the correct relative adverb.

1. This is the station   Emily met James.

2. July and August are the months   most people go on holiday.

3. Do you know the reason   so many people in the world learn English?

4. This is the church   Sue and Peter got married.

5. Edinburgh is the town   Alexander Graham Bell was born.

6. 25 December is the day   children in Great Britain get their Christmas presents.

7. A famine was the reason   so many Irish people emigrated to the USA in the 19th century.

8. A greengrocer's is a shop   you can buy vegetables.

9. The day   I arrived was very nice.

10. A horror film was the reason   I couldn't sleep last night.

which - whose - who - when - where

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1. Dallas is the city   Kennedy was shot.

2. Bill Clinton was the president   wife was called Hillary.

3. Sunday is the day   most countries respect a day of rest in the week.

4. Rotterdam is the port   is the busiest in Europe.

5. Yasser Arafat is the person   is the Palestinian leader.

6. Robinson Crusoe is the fictional character   companion was Man Friday.

7. Smog is the thing   is a combination of fog and smoke, or pollution.

8. Rum is the strong drink   is associated with the Caribbean.

9. The Euro is the currency   is used in most of Europe.

10. Napoleon is the man   wife was called Josephine.

11. A metallurgist is a person   studies metals.

12. Hiroshima is the place   the first atomic bomb was dropped.

13. 1914 is the year   the First World War started.

14. Your mother-in-law is the person   son or daughter is married to you.

15. A stapler is a thing   you use to attach papers together.

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