DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

no comma
defines which thing or person the speaker means
relative pronouns: who, that, which, whom, ,what, whose, where, when, how

1. The pronoun is the subject of the sentence:

The woman who/that lives next door is a doctor.
I like the actor who/that played in Hamlet.
I dont like stories that/which have unhappy endings.
Be careful with what: what = the thing(s) that
What happened was my fault.
What you can see now is our new invention.

2. The pronoun is the object of the sentence:

The woman (who/that) I wanted to see was away.
The dress (that/which) Ann bought was too big.
Do you know the man (who/whom/that) she is talking to?

Do you know the man to whom she is talking?

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the pronoun can be omitted

whom is rare in spoken English
use that after everything, something, anything, nothing

Be careful with what: what = the thing(s) that

Did you hear what I said?
Can you understand what he wrote?

3. whose, where:
Do you know the man whose cat I hit?
Do you know where she lives?
the town where she lives = the town she lives in

4. reason:
The reason Im phoning is that = The reason that Im phoning is that = The
reason why Im phoning is that

5. Cleft sentences:

It was Tom who helped us.

It was the book that I found the information in.
NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
-

comma
only gives extra, additional information
relative pronouns: who, which, whom, what, whose, where, when,

1. The pronoun is the subject of the sentence:

Jim, who lives next door, is a doctor.
The cat, which used to be my neighbours, was run over by a truck.

2. The pronoun is the object of the sentence:

You can find the necessary information in Thomsons book, which you can borrow
from any library.
We stayed at the Grand Hotel, which Ann recommended to us.
This morning I met Amy, whom/who I hadnt seen for ages.
I was introduced to her husband, who I had never met.
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the pronoun cannot be omitted

whom is rare in spoken English

3. whose, where:
Peter, whose children go to the same school as mine, is my boss.
Nottingham Forest, where Robin Hood lived, is now owned by the government.

4. preposition + whom/which:
all / most / some /
any / many / much /
each / both / none /
neither / either / one / etc.

of whom / which

They asked me a lot of questions, most of which I couldnt answer.

We met a gang of teenagers, many of whom were wearing black clothes.

5. which referring to a whole clause:

Jim passed his exam, which surprised everybody.
Kate couldnt come to the party, which was a pity.