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Relative Clauses

 

We can use relative clauses to join two English sentences, or to give more information about something.

 • I bought a new car. It is very fast. → I bought a new car that is very fast. 

• She lives in New York. She likes living in New York. → She lives in New York, which she likes.

A defining relative clause tells which noun we are talking about:

  • I like the woman who lives next door.
    (If I don't say 'who lives next door', then we don't know which woman I mean).

A non-defining relative clause gives us extra information about something. We don't need this information to understand the sentence.

  • I live in London, which has some fantastic parks.
    (Everybody knows where London is, so 'which has some fantastic parks' is extra information).
1: The relative pronoun is the subject:
We can use 'who', 'which' or 'that'. We use 'who' for people and 'which' for things. We can use 'that' for people or things.

For example:
  • I'm looking for a secretary who / that can use a computer well.
  • She has a son who / that is a doctor.
  • We bought a house which / that is 200 years old.
  • I sent a letter which / that arrived three weeks later.

More examples (clause after the subject of the sentence):

  • The people who / that live on the island are very friendly.
  • The man who / that phoned is my brother.
  • The camera which / that costs £100 is over there.
  • The house which / that belongs to Julie is in London.
2: The relative pronoun is the object:

In this case we can drop the relative pronoun if we want to. Again, the clause can come after the subject or the object of the sentence. Here are some examples:

(Clause after the object)

  • She loves the chocolate (which / that) I bought.
  • We went to the village (which / that) Lucy recommended.
  • John met a woman (who / that) I had been to school with.
  • The police arrested a man (who / that) Jill worked with.

(Clause after the subject)

  • The bike (which / that) I loved was stolen.
  • The university (which / that) she likes is famous.
  • The woman (who / that) my brother loves is from Mexico.
  • The doctor (who / that) my grandmother liked lives in New York.





NOW WHACT THIS VIDEO OF RELATIVE CLAUSES👀👇







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