Relative Clauses

By Noelia Villafae

Why learn Relative

Clauses?

To give

additional info about something

without starting another sentence.
Text becomes more fluent & you avoid
repeating words.

How?
Transform two simple sentences into a
complex sentence using a relative
pronoun.

Relative Pronouns
Who,

Whom, Whose, Which, That.

A relative

pronoun relates a subordinate

clause to the rest of the sentence.

A relative

pronoun is found only in

sentence with more than one clause.

Relative
pronoun

use

e.g.

Who

Subject/object pronoun for

people

Where is the girl who

brought the cake?

Whose

Possession for people

animal, things

The boy whose brother

is ill has come.

Whom

It

is possible instead of who

when it is the object of the
verb in the relative clause
You can also use it with a
preposition (to/from/with
whom etc)

-The lady whom we

saw just now is my
neighbour
- The girl with whom he
fell in love left him after
a few weeks

Which/
That

Place, thing, or idea

This is the car that I

saw yesterday

Relative
adverbs

use

e.g.

Where

Pronoun for places

London is the city where

the last Olympic Games
were held

When

Pronoun for time

Monday is the day when

I have my German class

Why

Reason

That is the reason why I

dont like going there.

What

= the things that

He says what they want

to hear

Simple & Complex

Sentences
Simple sentence:
Consists of a single independent clause
and no subordinate clause.
Example:
a. Ahmad goes to the mosque everyday.
b. The new teacher will come next week.

Simple & Complex

Sentences
Complex sentence:
Consists of one main clause and at least
one subordinate clause.
Example:
1. Please return the books that you
borrowed from the library yesterday.
2. Students who did well in the
examination will be rewarded.

Example 1
Can you identify simple sentence and
complex sentence?

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

The policeman caught the thief who broke
into my house.
I was seven years old when I first met the
Prime Minister.
Don't forget to tell the boy who lost his wallet
that it has been found.

How to form a relative

clause

A girl is talking to Jenny.

Do you know the girl?

Do you know the girl

who is talking to Jenny?

Relative Clauses
Example:
1.

The man lives next door. He is very friendly

The man who lives next door is very friendly.

2.

This is the book. I bought it yesterday.

This is the book, which I bought yesterday.

3.

This is the car. I saw it yesterday.

This is the car that I saw yesterday.

Relative Clauses
4. A widow is a woman whose husband is dead.
5. The man whom I wanted to see was away on holiday
6. The hotel where we stayed wasnt very clean
7. The reason why Im phoning you is to invite you to a
party
8. Did you hear what I said?

Relative Clauseswith or without who/that

When

who and that are objects of the

verb in the relative clause you can leave
them out:

The man I wanted to see was away on

holiday.
The dress Ann bought doesnt fit her
very well

Relative ClausesDefining and non-defining

Defining- essential to understand who or what we

are talking about:
The man who lives next door

Non-defining- They add new information; they

come after a comma. You have to use who for
people and which for things:
- Toms father, who is 78, goes swimming every day.
- The house at the end of the street, which has been
empty for tow years, has just been sold.