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    Relative Clauses: Content

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    Abhimanyu Khardia
    Relative clauses are used to provide additional information about a person or thing without starting a new sentence. There are two types: defining relative clauses that identify a specific person or thing, and non-defining relative clauses that provide extra context but are not essential to the meaning. Relative pronouns like who, which, that introduce the relative clause and indicate whether it is defining or non-defining based on punctuation. Relative clauses can sometimes be shortened by replacing the relative pronoun with a participle form of the verb.

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    Relative Clauses: Content

    Uploaded by

    Abhimanyu Khardia
    57 views4 pages
    Relative clauses are used to provide additional information about a person or thing without starting a new sentence. There are two types: defining relative clauses that identify a specific person or thing, and non-defining relative clauses that provide extra context but are not essential to the meaning. Relative pronouns like who, which, that introduce the relative clause and indicate whether it is defining or non-defining based on punctuation. Relative clauses can sometimes be shortened by replacing the relative pronoun with a participle form of the verb.

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    Relative Clauses

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    Relative clauses are used to provide additional information about a person or thing without starting a new sentence. There are two types: defining relative clauses that identify a specific person or thing, and non-defining relative clauses that provide extra context but are not essential to the meaning. Relative pronouns like who, which, that introduce the relative clause and indicate whether it is defining or non-defining based on punctuation. Relative clauses can sometimes be shortened by replacing the relative pronoun with a participle form of the verb.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    57 views4 pages

    Relative Clauses: Content

    Uploaded by

    Abhimanyu Khardia
    Relative clauses are used to provide additional information about a person or thing without starting a new sentence. There are two types: defining relative clauses that identify a specific person or thing, and non-defining relative clauses that provide extra context but are not essential to the meaning. Relative pronouns like who, which, that introduce the relative clause and indicate whether it is defining or non-defining based on punctuation. Relative clauses can sometimes be shortened by replacing the relative pronoun with a participle form of the verb.

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    Relative Clauses

    Content
    How to form relative clauses 
    Relative pronouns 
    Subject pronouns or Object pronouns? 
    Relative adverbs 
    Defining relative clauses 
    Non-defining relative clauses 
    How to shorten relative clauses 
    Exercises and Tests
    Exercises and tests on relative clauses

    We use relative clauses to give additional information about something without starting
    another sentence. By combining sentences with a relative clause, your text becomes
    more fluent and you can avoid repeating certain words.

    How to Form Relative Clauses 


    Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether
    he knows her. You could say:

    A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?

    That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative clause:
    you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the most important
    thing  – you want to know who the girl is.

    Do you know the girl …

    As your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in the
    additional information  – the girl is talking to Tom. Use „the girl“ only in the first part of
    the sentence, in the second part replace it with the relative pronoun (for people, use the
    relative pronoun „who“). So the final sentence is:

    Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

    Relative Pronouns 

    relative
    use example
    pronoun

    who subject or object pronoun for people I told you about the
    woman who lives next door.

    which subject or object pronoun for animals and things Do you see the cat which is lying on
    the roof?

    which referring to a whole sentence He couldn’t read which surprised


    me.

    whose possession for people animals and things Do you know the boy whose mother
    is a nurse?

    whom object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative I was invited by the
    clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially professor whom I met at the
    prefer who) conference.

    that subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in I don’t like the table that stands in
    defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible) the kitchen.

    Subject Pronoun or Object Pronoun? 


    Subject and object pronouns cannot be distinguished by their forms - who, which, that
    are used for subject and object pronouns. You can, however, distinguish them as
    follows:

    If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb, the relative pronoun is a subject pronoun.
    Subject pronouns must always be used.

    the apple which is lying on the table

    If the relative pronoun is not followed by a verb (but by a noun or pronoun), the relative
    pronoun is an object pronoun. Object pronouns can be dropped in defining relative
    clauses, which are then called Contact Clauses.

    the apple (which) George lay on the table

    Relative Adverbs 
    A relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition. This often
    makes the sentence easier to understand.
    This is the shop in which I bought my bike.
    → This is the shop where I bought my bike.

    relative
    meaning use example
    adverb

    when in/on which refers to a time expression the day when we met him

    where in/at which refers to a place the place where we met him

    why for which refers to a reason the reason why we met him

    Defining Relative Clauses 


    Defining relative clauses (also called identifying relative clauses or restrictive relative
    clauses) give detailed information defining a general term or expression. Defining
    relative clauses are not put in commas.

    Imagine, Tom is in a room with five girls. One girl is talking to Tom and you ask
    somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause defines which of the five
    girls you mean.

    Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

    Defining relative clauses are often used in definitions.

    A seaman is someone who works on a ship.

    Object pronouns in defining relative clauses can be dropped. (Sentences with a relative
    clause without the relative pronoun are called Contact Clauses.)

    The boy (who/whom) we met yesterday is very nice.

    Non-Defining Relative Clauses 


    Non-defining relative clauses (also called non-identifying relative clauses or non-
    restrictive relative clauses) give additional information on something, but do not define
    it. Non-defining relative clauses are put in commas.

    Imagine, Tom is in a room with only one girl. The two are talking to each other and you
    ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause is non-defining
    because in this situation it is obvious which girl you mean.
    Do you know the girl, who is talking to Tom?

    Note: In non-defining relative clauses, who/which may not be replaced with that.

    Object pronouns in non-defining relative clauses must be used.

    Jim, who/whom we met yesterday, is very nice.

    How to Shorten Relative Clauses? 


    Relative clauses with who, which, that as subject pronoun can be replaced with
    a participle. This makes the sentence shorter and easier to understand.

    I told you about the woman who lives next door. – I told you about the
    woman living next door.

    Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof? – Do you see the cat lying on the roof?

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