RELATIVE CLAUSES
Relative pronouns
who – it refers to people
whom – it refers to people, but only when it is the object. It is formal
which – it refers to things
where – it refers to places
when – it refers to time expressions
that – it can be used instead of who, which, when, where
whose – it indicates possession
Defining Relative Clauses
1 They give essential information
Liz is the student who won the first prize
2 “That” can be used
Liz is the student that won the first price
3 There are no commas
4 The relative pronoun can be omitted when it is not the subject
I didn’t understand the problem which the teacher explained
I didn’t understand the problem the teacher explained
Non-defining Relative Clauses
1 They give extra information
My neighbour, who is from Austria, has just bought a new car
2 “That” cannot be used
3 The relative clause is written between commas
4 The relative pronoun cannot be omitted
Omission of the relative pronoun
In defining relative clauses the relative pronoun can be omitted when it is not the subject
The pilot who/that won the race is Norwegian
subject
The money which/that/- Mark spent was his mother’s
object subject
Formal and informal relative clauses
Sometimes a preposition is used with the relative pronoun. In these cases, the relative clause is considered formal if the preposition
comes before the relative pronoun and this is not omitted.
If the preposition is placed after the verb, the relative clause is informal. In these cases the relative pronoun can be omitted.
“that” cannot be used in formal relative clauses
The person to who/whom I was speaking was my cousin (formal)
The person who I was talking to was my cousin (informal)
The person I was talking to was my cousin (informal)
Reduced relative clauses
Some relative clauses can be simplified – or reduced – to participle clauses. Clauses with a present participle (-ing form) replace an
active verb. Clauses with a past participle replace a passive verb.
This is the bridge which connects the two villages. → This is the bridge connecting the two villages
The woman who was injured was taken to hospital. → The woman injured was taken to hospital
That, what & which
that is used:
- to refer to a noun / nouns that come(s) before it.
Jogging is the sport that I love most
- after all, everything, nothing, something and superlatives
RELATIVE CLAUSES
All that she wants is to win the race
Don’t believe everything that you read
There’s nothing that can be done
Is this something that interests you?
Do the best that you can
- in informal style instead of when, which or who
Summer is the season that we go swimming
Mark is the boy that you are looking for
- in informal style instead of where if we add a place preposition at the end of the clause
This is the place that we go swimming in
which is used to refer to:
- a noun /nouns that come(s) before it
Basketball is a game which I enjoy playing
- the whole of the clause that comes before it
They won the match today, which was exciting
what does not refer to a noun that comes before it. It acts as a noun and relative pronoun and means “the thing(s) that”.
I couldn’t believe what she was saying
RELATIVE CLAUSES
Defining relative clauses
Defining & non-defining relative
1 Match the relative pronouns (1–5) with the
things we use them for (A–E). clauses
1 who A places
4 Write D if the clause is a defining relative clause
2 where B things or ND if it is a non-defining relative clause.
3 that C people
4 whose D times Luzu, who is a famous YouTuber (1) ND, was born
5 when E possession in Spain, but now lives in America. Luzu has a
vlogging channel, where he posts videos about his
2 Choose the correct options. daily life (2) ___. Before becoming a famous
People who / which listen to music while they vlogger, he went to the University of Navarra, where
revise usually remember things better. he studied Audiovisual Communications (3) ___. He
1 Experts say memory is something where / that then went to the University of California, where he
can be improved with training. did a master’s degree (4) ___. LuzuyLana is the
2 This is the school where / that I went to when I YouTube channel that Luzu started with his
was younger. girlfriend Lana Holmes (5) ___. Luzu is very popular
3 Conditionals tenses are the grammar point on Instagram, where he has over 1.9 million
which / whose I find most difficult in English. followers (6) ___. His advice to anyone wanting to
4 That’s the book that / where I make notes about become famous on YouTube is to choose a subject
anything important. which is not cool or popular at the moment (7) ___.
5 I always write down things when / that I have to
remember to do. 5 Insert commas in the correct places in the
6 That's the boy who / whose watch you found. sentences. One sentence does not need any
commas.
Omitting relative pronouns ,
Madrid which is the capital of Spain has,
many good universities.
3 Read sentence A, which has a relative pronoun, 1 Salamanca has the oldest university in Spain
and then sentence B, which has had the relative which dates back to 1218.
pronoun omitted. Put a tick () if sentence B 2 The Spanish state runs 51 of the 78
makes sense without the pronoun. universities that exist in Spain.
A That’s the girl who I sit next to in Geography. 3 The University of Barcelona which was
B That’s the girl I sit next to in Geography. established in 1450 is ranked 156th in the
1 A I don't understand the essay that we’ve got to world.
write for our homework this week. 4 The University of Navarra was designed by
B I don't understand the essay we’ve got to Rafael Moneo who is a well-known architect.
write for our homework this week. ___
2 A Is that the man whose laptop you found in the Reduced relative clauses
café?
B Is that the man laptop you found in the café? 6 Cross out two words in each sentence to make a
___ reduced relative clause.
3 A It’s hard to remember how to get to a place Students who are found texting in class will be
that you’ve only been to once before. asked to hand their phones in to the office.
B It’s hard to remember how to get to a place 1 The teacher who is taking our class this week
you’ve only been to once before. ___ doesn't like me.
4 A Is that the house where you grew up? 2 I’m doing the extra English course that was
B Is that the house you grew up?___ advertised on the student website.
3 I’m reading the book that was written by our
head teacher.
RELATIVE CLAUSES
4 Do you know any of the people who were asked
to apply for Oxford University? Defining & non-defining relative
clauses
Defining relative clauses 9 Write relative clauses. Use a relative pronoun,
and use commas where necessary.
7 Decide if the relative pronouns in bold are
James / 81 / excellent memory
correct or not. Write the correct relative
pronouns below. James, who is 81, has an excellent memory.
1 Cara / lives next door / is training / a psychologist
Amnesia is a condition (1) who makes sufferers ______________________________________
forget certain things (2) which they previously ______________________________________
remembered. It is often caused by a trauma of 2 That / the bus driver / forgot where his bus route
some kind such as a blow to the head. There was a went yesterday?
period of many years (3) that it seemed there was ______________________________________
nothing anyone could do to reverse amnesia. ______________________________________
However, in recent experiments, researchers have 3 This / my friend / granny / runs memory training
managed to reactivate memories in some patients classes
(4) whose were suffering from the condition. They ______________________________________
have used a new treatment called optogenetics, ______________________________________
(5) which uses light to reactivate certain brain cells.
Susuma Tonegawa is the professor (6) which led Reduced relative clauses
the research into optogenetics. He says the brain
has a different pathway of neurons (7) when 10 Write the words that have been omitted.
connects each individual memory. So if you can find 1 The woman talking on her phone right now is my
the place (8) where a memory is stored, you can friend’s mum. _____________
reactivate the pathway. Memories (9) that have 2 Have you read the latest blog post written by my
been lost are suddenly recalled by the light, when it friend Kayla. _____________
is shined on these neuron paths. For a person 3 The students daydreaming earlier will need to
(10) who memories seem impossible to find, this is borrow notes from a friend. _____________
a major step forward.
1 that 6 _________
2 correct 7 _________
3 _________ 8 _________
4 _________ 9 _________
5 _________ 10 _________
Omitting relative pronouns
8 Put a tick () if the sentence makes sense
without the relative pronoun.
1 Is this the place where you last saw your keys?
___
2 This is the photograph that you showed me
yesterday. ___
3 Is that the girl who couldn't remember your
name? ___
4 Do you remember the time when we pretended
to be famous for a day? ___
5 That's the man whose diary I found. ___
RELATIVE CLAUSES
Defining relative clauses
Defining & non-defining relative
11 Read the notes about the meaning of aide-
memoire, then complete the sentences with clauses
defining relative clauses.
13 Insert the correct relative pronouns into the text
aide-memoire below. Add commas where necessary. The first
one has been done for you.
– originally a French word
– means ‘to aid memory’
, ,
Fez (1) which is a city in Morocco is believed
to have the oldest library in the world. The Al-
– refers to notes or doodles made to jog someone’s Qarawiyyin Library (2) ________ first opened in
memory 859 BC had been closed for decades to everyone
– term first used in English in 1846 in G. Lewis’s except a few professors and students (3) ________
book Aide-memoire to the Military Sciences study at the university it is in. Aziza Chaouni is the
architect (4) ________ has been in charge of the
– example: the sentence ‘Richard Of York Gave restoration of the library. It has been a major
Battle In Vain’ – used to help people remember the undertaking and includes a new laboratory
order of the colours in the rainbow. The first letter of (5) ________ the oldest texts are being preserved.
each word is the same as the first letter of each
colour in the order of the rainbow: red, orange, Chaouni (6) ________ home is now in Toronto had
yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. heard about the library from stories about her great
grandfather (7) ________ apparently rode on a
1 Aide-memoire is the French term donkey to Fez to study there.
______________________________________
2 Aide-memoire are the notes or doodles
Reduced relative clauses
______________________________________
______________________________________
14 Complete these sentences with your own ideas
3 G. Lewis is the writer using reduced relative clauses.
______________________________________ 1 August is the month _____________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
4 1846 is the year 2 Look at the man over there ________________
______________________________________ ______________________________________
______________________________________ 3 A Bachelors degree course is a course
5 ‘Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain’ is an aide ______________________________________
memoire’
______________________________________
That, which, what
______________________________________
15 Complete with that, which, what. Write the
6 Violet is the colour
pronoun in brackets if it can be omitted
_ ______________________________________
1 Yoga is something…………I do every day
_ ______________________________________
2 I did a ten-kilometre run,……….was tiring
3 Kate is the girl……….we were talking about
Omitting relative pronouns 4 Let me see……….you bought at the shops
5 This is the hardest workout……….I have done
12 In which sentences in exercise 1 above can you
omit the pronoun? 6 He’s broken his ankle,……….is very painful
7 Do you remember……….the teacher told you to
Sentences ___________
do?
