Visit the following websites to study relative clauses
http://www.eoilangreo.net/cristina/pre-intermediate/defining.htm
http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/clauses-2.html
http://linguapress.com/grammar/relative-clauses.htm#preposition
http://www.kfmaas.de/relative.html
http://www.englishcorner.vacau.com/grammar/grammar.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/645/01/
http://www.eltbase.com/vtr_refs.php?id=32
http://www.perfectyourenglish.com/grammar/prepositions-word-order.htm
Using Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses
Introduction to Relative Clauses
How To Use A Relative Clause
Use relative clauses to provide extra information. This information can either define something
(defining clause), or provide unnecessary, but interesting, added information (non-defining
clause).
Relative clauses can be introduced by:
• a relative pronoun: who (whom), which, that, whose
• no relative pronoun, Ø.
• where, why and when instead of a relative pronoun
You need to consider the following when deciding which relative pronoun to use:
• Is the subject or object or possessive of a relative clause?
• Does it refers to a person or an object?
• Is the relative clause a defining or non-defining relative clause?
NOTE: Relative clauses are often used in both spoken and written English. There is a tendency to use
non-defining relative clauses mostly in written, rather than in spoken, English.
Deciding Whether A Clause Is Defining Or Non-Defining
Defining Relative Clauses
The information provided in a defining relative clause is crucial in understanding the meaning of the
sentence.
Example: The woman who lives in apartment No. 34 has been arrested.
The document that I need has 'important' written at the top.
The purpose of a defining relative clause is to clearly define who or what we are talking about. Without
this information, it would be difficult to know who or what is meant.
Example: The house is being renovated.
In this case it is not necessarily clear which house is being renovated.
Non-defining Relative Clauses
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Non-defining relative clauses provide interesting additional information which is not essential to
understanding the meaning of the sentence.
Example: Mrs. Jackson, who is very intelligent, lives on the corner.
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.
NOTE: In defining relative clauses there are no commas.
The Use of Relative Pronouns
Relative Pronouns in Defining Relative Clauses
Person Object
Subject who that which, that
Object Ø, that, who, whom Ø, which, that
Possessive whose whose, of which
Relative Pronouns Used As The Subject of Defining Relative Clauses
Example:
Children who (that) play with fire are in great danger of harm.
The man who bought all the books by Hemingway has died.
Generally, who and which are more usual in written English whereas that is more usual in speech
when referring to things.
Relative Pronouns Used As The Object of Defining Relative Clauses
Example: That's the boy (Ø , that, who, whom) I invited to the party.
There's the house (Ø, that, which) I'd like to buy.
Relative Pronouns Used As A Possessive In A Defining Relative Clauses
Example: He's the man whose car was stolen last week.
They were sure to visit the town whose location (OR the location of which) was little known.
NOTE: It is preferable to use that (not which) after the following words: all, any(thing),
every (thing), few, little, many, much, no(thing), none, some(thing), and after
superlatives.
When using the pronoun to refer to the object, that can be omitted.
Example: It was everything (that) he had ever wanted.
There were only a few (that) really interested him.
Relative Pronouns in Non-Defining Relative Clauses
Person Object
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Subject who which
Object who, whom which
Possessive whose whose, of which
Relative Pronouns Used As The Subject of Non-Defining Relative Clauses
Example:
,
Frank Zappa who was one of the most creative artists in rock 'n roll came from ,
California.
Olympia, whose name is taken from the Greek, is the capitol of Washington State.
Relative Pronouns Used As The Object of Non-Defining Relative Clauses
Example:
Frank invited Janet, who (whom) he had met in Japan, to the party.
Peter brought his favorite antique book, which he had found at a flee market, to show his
friends.
NOTE That can never be used in non-defining clauses.
Relative Pronouns Used As A Possessive In Non-Defining Relative Clauses
Example:
The singer, whose most recent recording has had much success, signing autographs.
The artist, whose name he could not remember, was one of the best he had ever seen.
NOTES
In non-defining relative clauses, which can be used to refer to an entire clause.
Example: He came for the weekend wearing only some shorts and a t-shirt, which was a stupid thing
to do.
After numbers and words like many, most, neither, and some, we use “of” before
whom and which in non-defining relative clauses.
Example: Many of those people, most of whom enjoyed their experience, spent at
least a year abroad. Dozens of people had been invited, most of whom I knew.
The Use Of Where, Why And When -Relative Clauses and Preposition Use
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Where, referring to a place, why, referring to a reason, and when, referring to a time, can be used
instead of a relative pronoun after a noun.
In defining relative clauses why and when, unlike where can be omitted.
Example: I'd like to know the reason (why) he decided not to come.
February is the month (when) many of my colleagues take skiing holidays.
BUT! She always had wanted to go to a place where she could speak her native tongue.
When, where and why are not omitted in non-defining relative clauses.
Example:
- I come from the Seattle area, where many successful companies such as Microsoft and Boeing are
located, and I often go home during the summer.
-He likes shopping between one and three, when most people are at home, because of the relative
calm.
NOTES:
When speaking, we often omit the relative pronoun.
Whom is formal and most often used when writing.
Relative clauses and prepositions :
In formal English prepositions can come before the relative pronoun. However, it much more common
to place prepositions at the end of the relative clause, especially in informal spoken English.
Example:
John Robbins, whom I spoke to by telephone, instructed me to buy 200 shares of WAKO. Formal
The Ritz, which was stayed at in New York, was extremely expensive.
Defining Relative Clauses
Formal Informal
Person whom Ø
Object which Ø
Example:
The banker to whom I gave my check was quite friendly. - formal
The woman I talked to was very pleasant indeed. - informal
The book which I received for my birthday was excellent. - formal
The car he drove was really fast. - informal
Non-Defining Relative Clauses
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Formal Informal
Person whom who
Object which which
Example:
1-The bank manager, to whom he addressed his complaints, was very unhelpful. – (formal)
2-The local branch manager, who I talked to about my problems, was very helpful. – (informal)
WHERE TO PUT THE PREPOSTITION IN A RELATIVE CLAUSE
There are often prepositions in relative clauses, and the relative pronoun is the object of the preposition. This
means that the preposition can sometimes be omitted.
1. The preposition is normally placed at the end of the relative clause:
Is that the man (who) you arrived with?
Do you know the girl (that) John is talking to?
2. In formal or written English, the preposition is often placed before the relative pronoun, and in this
case the pronoun cannot be omitted:
The person with whom he is negotiating is the Chairman of a large company.
It is a society to which many important people belong.
However, this is unusual in spoken English.
Examples:
• The jungle the elephant lived in was full of strange and unusual animals.
• He was very fond of the mouse that he lived with.
• The tree under which they had their home was the largest and oldest in the jungle.
• In the middle of the jungle was a river that all the animals went to every day.
• It was the stream in which the elephant and the mouse preferred to swim.
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
The information in these clauses is not essential. It tells us more about someone or something, but it does not
help us to identify them or it.
Compare:
1. Elephants that love mice are very unusual. (This tells us which elephants we are talking about).
2. 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).
3. John's mother, who lives in Scotland, has 6 grandchildren. (We know who John's mother is, and he only
has one. The important information is the number of grandchildren, but the fact that she lives in Scotland
might be followed with the words "by the way" - it is additional information).
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Punctuation
Non-defining relative clauses are always separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. The commas
have a similar function to brackets:
My friend John has just written a best-selling novel. (He went to the same school as me) > My friend John,
who went to the same school as me, has just written a best-selling novel.
Relative pronouns in non-defining clauses
Person Thing Place
Subject who which
Object who/whom which where
Possessive whose
Notes:
1. In non-defining clauses, you cannot use ‘that’ instead of who, whom or which.
2. You cannot leave out the relative pronoun, even when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause:
He gave me the letter, which was in a blue envelope.
He gave me the letter, which I read immediately
3. The preposition in these clauses can go at the end of the clause, e.g. This is Stratford-on-Avon, which you
have all heard about.
This pattern is often used in spoken English, but in written or formal English you can also put the
preposition before the pronoun: e.g. Stratford-on-Avon, about which many people have written is
Shakespeare’s birthplace.
3. 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
(a) 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
Examples:
a. There were a lot of people at the party, many of whom I had known for years.
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b. He was carrying his belongings, many of which were broken.
5. 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.
a. 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).
b. An elephant and a mouse fell in love, which is most unusual. (= the fact that they fell in love is unusual).
Examples:
a. My grandmother, who is dead now, came from the North of England.
b. I spoke to Fred, who explained the problem.
c. The elephant looked at the tree, under which she had often sat.
d. We stopped at the museum, which we’d never been into.
e. She’s studying maths, which many people hate.
f. I’ve just met Susan, whose husband works in London.
g. He had thousands of books, most of which he had read.
Exercises:
Link these two sentences by means of a relative pronoun.
1. She was dancing with a student. He had a slight limp.
She was dancing with ______________________________________________
The student ______________________________________________________
2. The bed has no mattress. I sleep on this bed.
3. Romeo and Juliet were two lovers. Their parents hated each other.
4. The man was busy and I couldn’t speak to him. I had come to see him.
5. I was waiting for a man, He didn’t turn up.
6. I saw several houses. Most of them were quite unsuitable.
7. He wanted to come at 2 a.m. This didn’t suit me at all.
8. This is a story of a group of boys. Their plane crashed on an uninhabited island.
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9. The car crashed into a queue of people. Four of them were killed.
10. The firm is sending me to New York, I work for this firm.
11. There wasn’t any directory in the telephone box. I was phoning from this box.
12. His girlfriend turned out to be a spy. He trusted her absolutely.
13. Thank you for the postcard. You sent it to me.
14. The bus goes to London. It leaves from here.
15. I don’t know anyone. You can sell the car to them.
16. I met Mary. She asked me to give you this.
17. I was given this address by a man. I met him on a train.
18. A man answered the phone. He said you were out.
19. We’ll have to cross the frontier. This will be quite difficult.
20. I was sitting on an old chair. It suddenly collapsed.
I was sitting on a …
The chair …
21. The Smiths were given a room in a hotel. Their house had been destroyed in the explosion.
22. He introduced me to his students. Most of them were from abroad.
23. I went to Munich. I had always wanted to visit Munich.
24. This is the box. Mum keeps her jewellery in it.
25. Mick was here ten minutes ago. You met him last week.
26. He’s the man. I borrowed the money from him.
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27. Bob didn’t pass the exam. This made his parents very angry.
28. The woman smiled proudly. Her daughter won the first prize.
29. Peter has a lot of friends. Most of them are English teachers.
30. I read a lot of books. Most of them are mystery novels.
31. The architect is from Sweden. He designed this building.
32. This is the hotel. We stayed at this hotel last year.
33. Mr. and Mrs. Harrid moved to London last year. They used to live next door.
Visit the following websites to study relative clauses
http://www.eoilangreo.net/cristina/pre-intermediate/defining.htm
http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/clauses-2.html
http://linguapress.com/grammar/relative-clauses.htm#preposition
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