RELATIVE CLAUSESPART I:

EXPLANATION AND STEPS TO

MAKE THEM

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

DEFINING CLAUSES give essential information about their antecedent and without them the meaning will be incomplete.

These never go between commas. WHO, WHOM and WHICH can be substituted by

THAT in a more colloquial context. WHO, WHOM, WHICH AND THAT can be omitted

if they are the object of the relative clause, that is, if they are followed by a sibject.

If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb,then it can’t be omitted. If the relative is followedby a subject + verb, then it’s almost sure you candrop it

EXAMPLES:

Mary is the girl who arrived late at the party.

Mary is the girl who I told you about yesterday.

The book which was on the table was new.

The book which I bought is about music.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

NON-DEFINING CLAUSES give extra information, that is, we could remove it without changing the meaning of the sentence.

They are always separated by commas. THAT is never used. Pronouns can be NEVER omitted. The antencedent is usually a proper name

of a person or thing and it contains a possessive like ‘my’, ‘his’, ‘her’, the definite article ‘the’ or demonstratives like ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ or ‘those’

EXAMPLES:

Mary,who arrived late at the party,is my cousin

Paris, which is the capital of France, is a beutiful city.

Paul, who I saw at the party, is so handsome.

That car, which she bought last month, is a Ferrari.

RELATIVE PRONUONS WHO WHOM WHICH WHOSE WHERE WHEN THAT

WHO It is used to talk about people It can be the subject or the object of the

relative clause In defining relative clauses it can be always

replaced by THAT. More colloquial. In defining relative clauses it can be omitted if

it is the object of the relative clause, that is, if it is followed by the subject of the relative clause and, if it does not have a preposition before.

Eg: Mary,who arrived late at the party,is my cousin

WHOM It is used to talk about people. More formal

than WHO It is always the object of the relative clause,

that is, it always has a suject afterwards. In defining relative clauses it can be

replaced by THAT. In defining relative clauses it can be

omitted if it does not have a preposition before.

Eg: Mary is the girl whom I told you about yesterday.

WHICH It is used to talk about anything but people. It can be the subject or the object of the

relative clause In defining relative clauses it can be always

replaced by THAT. More colloquial. In defining relative clauses it can be omitted if

it is the object of the relative clause, that is, if it is followed by the subject of the relative clause and, if it does not have a preposition before.

That car, which she bought last month, is a Ferrari.

WHOSE It is used to talk about possession. It cannot be substituted by any

pronouns. It cannot be omitted in any case. It is always followed by whatever is

possessed.

Eg: That is the boy whose mother is a doctor

WHERE It is used to talk about places when they

are not the subject nor the object of the relative clause, that is when they are followed by a subject and they are not an object in the relative clause.

That is the museum where I went last month

WHEN It is used to talk about times when they

are not the subject nor the object of the relative clause, that is when they are followed by a subject and they are not an object in the relative clause.

Eg: May is the month when flowers bloom.

THAT It only appears in Defing Relative

Clauses. It may substitute WHO, WHOM and

WHICH. It can be omitted if it is the object of the

relative clause, that is, if it is followed by the subject.

Eg: Paul is the man that I like so much.

RELATIVE CLAUSES

DEFINING NON-DEFINING

PRONOUNS PRONOUNS

WHO/WHOM/WHICH

THAT

WHOSE/ WHERE/ WHEN

WHO/ WHOM/ WHICH/ WHOSE/ WHERE/ WHEN

STEPS TO JOIN TWO SENTENCES IN A RELATIVE CLAUSE

1.- Find the common element

The man is very tall. I saw him yesterday.

2.- Cross out the second element.

That man is very tall. I saw him yesterday.

3.- Start copying the first sentence until the first common element.

4.- Write the relative pronoun:whowhichwhose

That man

5.- Copy the second sentence, except the element we had crossed out.

I saw yesterday

The man who

6.- If there is anything left from the first sentence, copy it afterwards.

is very tall.

The man who I saw yesterday

7.- Check if you can write THAT instead of WHO, WHOM, WHICH

The man who I saw yesterday is very tall. that

8.- Check if you can omit the pronouns.

The man who I saw yesterday is very tall. that

9.- The sentence is ready!!!

The man I saw yesterday is very tall.