Advanced Grammar for IELTS:

Relative clauses
by IELTS Editor
Advanced Grammar for IELTS: Relative clauses – Diagnose
Test, Grammar Explanation & Practice Exercises
A DIAGNOSTIC TEST: Relative clauses
Underline the correct alternative in bold.

 Advanced Grammar for IELTS: Features of discourse

 Advanced Grammar for IELTS: Contrast
 Advanced Grammar for IELTS: Introductory there and it
 Advanced Grammar for IELTS: Word order and verb patterns
 Advanced Grammar for IELTS: Prepositions

Example
Do you know anyone which/ who can repair cigarette burns on clothes?

1. It’s usually children from deprived backgrounds that/ which cause the worst
problems.
2. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, that/ which topped the best-seller lists for weeks on
end, was never formally publicised.
3. The Council provides bins in that/ which waste paper can be deposited for
recycling.
4. All cows over 30 months who/ which may have been exposed to BSE will be
destroyed.
5. Address the reference ‘to who/whom it may concern’, as it’s very formal.
6. The town hall clock played a different tune at twelve every day, which/ what
amused the locals and attracted tourists.
7. ‘There’s a lucky person in this hall who/ whose lottery ticket has just won them
£2,000!’
8. ’Why don’t you tell the police which/ what you told me yesterday?’
9. The film is set in the period where/ when the divide between rich and poor was
much greater than it is now.
10. You can put the photo whichever/ wherever you think it looks best.

Each sentence below contains a mistake. Find the mistakes and correct them.
Example
Orders for that we have received payment will be processed
immediately. …….which…….

11. The jackets which this shop makes them are of excellent quality
12. Jack has prepared his favourite dish from Delia Smith’s recipe book, which he is
about to eat.
13. Can you get me one of those chocolate bars have got toffee in the middle?
14. The charity event raised over £1,000 for St Andrew’s Hospice which opened last
year.
15. I’d always wanted to take Graham to the city where I grew up in.
16. Have you invited the residents who living here on a temporary basis to the
meeting?
17. He presented the visiting ambassador with a genuine Ming vase, that was worth
over $10,000
18. The bank robbery what I told you about is in the local newspaper.
19. High taxation is often the main reason which governments fall.
20. The new buyer identified a dozen new sources for the material, most of them
proved to be reliable.

B GRAMMAR EXPLANATION: Relative clauses

Relative clauses are subordinate clauses which refer to the noun of the main clause,
identifying it or adding extra information. There are two types of relative clause:
defining clauses (identifying the noun or classifying it as part of a group) and non-
defining clauses (adding information about the noun). This unit examines both
types of relative clause and the pronouns and adverbs used to introduce relative
clauses.

1. RELATIVE CLAUSES

1A. Form and use

Relative clauses are subordinate clauses introduced by relative pronouns, such as
that, which or who. These clauses give information about someone or something in
the main clause. Compare these examples:
I used to live in one of those houses. They have now been demolished.
I used to live in one of those houses that have now been demolished.
main clause relative clause
The relative pronoun is the subject or object of the relative clause. It is therefore
unnecessary to repeat the noun from the main clause or introduce a personal
pronoun to replace it:
X I used to live in one of those houses that they have now been demolished.
We usually put the relative clause as close as possible to the noun it refers to,
otherwise the meaning may not be clear:
X Jack has prepared his favourite dish from Jamie Smith’s recipe book, which he
is about to eat
✓ Jack has prepared his favourite dish, which he is about to eat, from Jamie
Smith’s recipe book.
We often avoid relative clauses in casual speech and writing, preferring shorter
ways of defining or adding information:
People who come from Wales are often quite musical. (relative clause)
Welsh people are often quite musical. (adjective)
People from Wales are often quite musical. (prepositional phrase)
1B. Subjects and objects
A relative pronoun can be the subject of a relative clause:
 Last week I saw that film which won all the Oscars.
subject relative pronoun
Here, the pronoun is the subject of the relative clause (the film won the Oscars),
even though it is the object of the main clause (I saw the film).
A relative pronoun can also be the object of a relative clause:
Last week I saw the film which you made at college.
object relative pronoun
Here, the pronoun is the object of the subordinate clause (you made the film).
In defining relative clauses, we can omit the relative pronoun when it is the object
of the relative clause, but not when it is the subject:
X Last week I saw the film won all the Oscars.
✓ Last week I saw the film you made at college.
1C. Defining relative clauses
A defining relative clause identifies or classifies a noun or pronoun in the main
clause:

 Identifying relative clause: Is this the book that you were looking for?
 Classifying relative clause: Would all those who have booked dinner please
go to the restaurant now?

(In the second example, the relative clause classifies the members of a group.)
In defining relatives, the relative clause gives information which is necessary for
the sense of the sentence. In the first example above, if we say just Is this the book?,
this does not convey the key meaning of the whole sentence, i.e. the book that you
were looking for.
We often use defining relative clauses to describe an important quality of someone
or something:
Van Gogh was an artist who used a lot of bold, vibrant colours.
We often use a relative clause with the same pattern for emphasis, with
introductory It:
It is always violent crime that provokes the most extreme reaction from the
public.
1D. Non-defining relative clauses
We usually use non-defining relative clauses to add extra information about the
subject of a main clause:
ITV’s News at Ten, which occupied the mid-evening slot for many years,
was a very popular programme.
(main clause = ITV’s News at Ten was a very popular programme.)
We can also use non-defining relative clauses to show consecutive actions:
Heskey passed the ball to Owen, who scored a magnificent goal
We use non-defining relative clauses mainly in writing and formal speech.
1E. Punctuation and pausing
We usually use commas to separate the relative clause from the main clause in non-
defining relatives, but we do not use them in defining relatives:
The tribespeople, who traded with the settlers, retained their land. (All of the
tribespeople retained their land, and, incidentally, they traded with the settlers.)
 The tribespeople who traded with the settlers retained their land. (Only some
of the tribespeople retained their land – this defines a group.)
The use of commas reflects the way we say the two types of relative clause.
In defining relative clauses, there is no pause between the main clause and the
relative clause:
We asked for the double room which had a sea view.
In non-defining relatives, there is a short pause after the main clause or between
the two parts of the main clause:
We were given a lovely double room ( ), which had a sea view.
I first met Harry Gardiner ( ). who eventually became my father-in-law ( ), at a
Law Society meeting.
1F. Prepositions with relative clauses
We can use prepositions with relative pronouns. Where we put the preposition
depends on formality:

 Informal: Have you seen the little case that/ which I keep my contact lenses in?
 Formal: This system provides a case in which the contact lenses can be kept.

Note: We do not put a preposition before the relative pronoun that:

X This system provides a case in that the contact lenses can be kept.
Note: If we put a preposition before who, the pronoun always becomes whom.
Compare:
The people who this report is addressed to will have to consider carefully the
consequences of the proposed cuts.
The people to whom this report is addressed will have to consider carefully the
consequences of the proposed cuts.
We can often use where (for places) or when (for times) instead of which +
preposition:
This is the house where I grew up/ which I grew up in/ in which I grew up.
1G. Reduced relative clauses
We often ‘reduce’ a relative clause, i.e. we shorten it by omitting the pronoun and
verb. We can do this with a participle phrase:
Marilyn was the woman living in the flat underneath us at the time (= …
who lived/was living in …)
The clauses struck out of the agreement were all unimportant. (= … which were
struck out/which we struck out …)
Another possibility is to use an infinitive phrase:
Newton was the first person to really understand the laws of gravity. (= … who
really understood …)

2. RELATIVE PRONOUNS AND ADVERBS

2A. General use

This table lists relative pronouns and adverbs and how they can be used:

Use for Use as

Pronounce Subject Object Defining Non-defining
1 who People, animal ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
whom People x ✓ ✓ ✓
2 which Objects, animal ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Which ideas ✓ ✓ x ✓
3 that People, object, animal ✓ ✓ ✓ x
Relationships,
4 whose ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
possessions
5 no pronoun People, things, animals x ✓ ✓ x
Adverbs
6 where Places ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
7 when Times ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
8 why Reasons ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Nominal pronoun
Objects, ideas ( mean
9 what ✓ ✓ ✓ x
the thing that)
Notes on the table:
1: We sometimes use who to refer to animals, particularly domestic pets:
Is Sheba the dog who was run over and nearly killed last year?
Whom is formal and we rarely use it in speech. We now mainly use it after
prepositions:
I am referring to the person with whom you were seen on that evening.
2: Note that we always use which (not who) to refer to inanimate objects.
We can also use which to refer to the ‘idea’ of a whole clause:
When he came home, he was unusually attentive, which made her very suspicious.
Here, which refers to the fact that ‘he was unusually attentive’.
3: We can use that to refer to people or objects, but we usually prefer to use who for
a person when the pronoun is the subject of the relative clause:
Ms Harrison is the lawyer who/that has been chosen to represent you.
Note: We do not use that in non-defining relative clauses:
X This offer, that will not be repeated, must end next week.
Note: In US English that is more common than which or who in defining relative
clauses.
4: It is possible, though not very common, to use whose to refer to objects.
It would only be possible to colonise planets whose atmosphere contained enough
oxygen to sustain human life. (= the atmosphere of which)
5: We often omit a relative pronoun when it refers to the object of a defining
relative clause:
The girl (who) I met in the florist’s was at the party. (= I met the girl.)
We cannot omit the pronoun if it is the subject of the clause:
X The girl works for the florist in the High Street was at the party.
✓The girl who works for the florist in the High Street was at the party.
Note: We cannot omit an object relative pronoun in non-defining relative clauses:
X Last year’s winner presented the cup, each holder keeps for the year.
✓ Last year’s winner presented the cup, which each holder keeps for the year.
6: We can use which or that + a preposition instead of where:
Mozart’s birthplace and the house where he composed ‘The Magic Flute’ are both
now museums.
Mozart’s birthplace and the house that he composed The Magic Flute’ in are both
now museums.
7: We can use that as an alternative to when in defining relative clauses:
I remember – it was the day when/ that the heatwave started.
We can use which or that + a preposition instead of when:
The attacks continued up to the day on which the agreement was signed.
8: The only noun which takes why as a relative pronoun is reason:
Sometimes he thought her clear morality was the reason why/ that he loved her.
We can use which + for instead of why.
High taxation is often the main reason for which governments fall.
Note: It is possible to use relative adverbs without the noun to which they refer:
It’s (the place) where that rock festival is held every year.
9: We use what to mean ‘the thing that/ which’. The clause containing ‘what’ is a
nominal clause, i.e. the whole clause acts as a noun, either a subject or an object.
While ‘what’ isn’t used in the same way as ‘that’ or ‘which’ it can fulfil the same
functions as the other relative pronouns:
Why don’t you tell the police what you told me yesterday?
In this example what you told me yesterday is the object of the verb tell. It means
the same as:
Why don’t you tell the police the story (that) you told me yesterday.
We cannot use what to replace who, which or that:
X It was the money what I wanted, not the fame.
✓ It was the money (that) I wanted, not the fame.
This could be expressed as:
The money was what I wanted, not the fame. (= the thing that I wanted)
2B. Modifying a relative pronoun/ adverb
We often use modifiers, such as all of and many of before which or whom in a
non- defining relative clause to refer to the subject or object of the clause:
The supermarket removed from the shelves all of its jars of tomato puree, several
of which were found to contain fragments of glass.
The college entered over a hundred students for the exam, all of whom passed.
We interviewed fourteen applicants for the post, none of whom we thought
suitable.
2C. Whichever, whenever, etc.
In defining relative clauses we can modify the pronoun or adverb with –ever to give
the meaning of anything, anyone, anywhere, etc.:
Use whichever phone you want – they all have outside lines.
I’d like to meet whoever did that to the garden hedge!
You can put the photo wherever you think it looks best. I don’t mind.
C PRACTICE EXERCISE
Q 1.
Match each headline (1-10) with a sentence (A-J). Then write one sentence
containing a relative clause (defining or non-defining) to combine each headline
and sentence that accompanies it. Use the present perfect tense in the main clause.

0 SCIENTISTS DISCOVER NEW A He was disgraced in a financial scandal.

WONDER-CURE FOR CANCER B They were spoiled in the recent US presidential
1. BODY OF MAN FOUND IN RIVER SEVERN election.
2. FASHION ICON QUANT LEAVES BUSINESS C His contract with Ferrari finishes at the end of
3. GLOBAL WARMING CONFERENCE the season.
ENDS WITHOUT AGREEMENT D It was held in The Hague.
4. IRVINE NARROWLY MISSES FORMULA 1 E She shares the house with her British husband,
WORLD CHAMPION TITLE Guy Ritchie.
5. HAND COUNT OF VOTES CONTINUES F It was in danger of closing through lack of
6. LONDON ZOO REMAINS OPEN funds.
7. POLITICIAN HANDS IN RESIGNATION C She refused to diet to a size 12.
8. SIZE 16 MODEL WINS NEW ESTEE LAUDER H The man jumped off the Severn Bridge.
CONTRACT I They have been studying cancer genes for years.
9. MADONNA’S UK HOME BURGLED J She is famous for inventing the mini-skirt.
0 Scientists ………(I) who have been studying cancer genes for years have just
discovered a new wonder – cure for cancer. ………………………….
1 The body of a
man………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2 The fashion icon Mary Quant
………………………………………………………………………………………
3 The global warming conference
……………………………………………………………………………………
4 Formula 1 driver Eddie
Irvine………………………………………………………………………………………
5 The hand count of votes
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
6 London Zoo
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7 The politician
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
8 The size 16 model
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
9 Madonna’s house in the UK
………………………………………………………………………………………..
Q 2.
Choose the best sentence to describe each cartoon.
,