Relative Clauses

_Relative clauses give extra information about a noun in the main clause.
_Relative clauses define or describe people ad things. They tell us more about
people and things.
_Relative clauses are short phrases, and they are often introduced by relative
pronouns (who, which, that, whom, whose).

The relative pronoun can refer to the subject of the clause:

That’s the woman who bought my car.
The woman (subject) bought my car (object).

Or the relative pronoun can refer to the object of the clause:

This is the car that I used to own.
I (subject) used to own the car (object).

Note how the sentences are combined.

Subject: This is Jean. She bought my car.
Jean is the person who bought my car.
She is not repeated, as the person is now the subject.
Object: That is Jean’s car. I used to own it.
That’s the car that I used to own.
It is not repeated, as the car is now the object.

Defining or non-defining

The man who started Microsoft is now very rich.

relative clauses

Bill Gates, who started Microsoft, is now a very rich man.

• It is important to understand the difference between defining relative clauses and

non-defining relative clauses:

_Defining relative (DR) clauses qualify a noun, and identify (tell us) exactly which
person or thing is being referred to.
DR give important information. This information is necessary for the sentence to
make sense.

When we speak, there is no pause before or after a DR clause, and no commas

when we write.

DR are much more common in the spoken language.

 The doctor who treated me told me not to worry.
In this example there is more than one doctor and we only know which one by the
relative clause.

The book which you lent me is really good.

This indicated which book we are talking about. Without the relative clause, it might
be difficult to understand the meaning.

She likes people who are good fun to be with.

She likes people on its own doesn’t mean very much; we need to know which
people she likes.

Politicians who tell lies are odious.

Who tell lies tell us exactly which politicians are odious. Without it, the speaker is
saying that all politicians are odious.

_Non-defining relative (NDR) clauses give (add) extra information, secondary

information to a sentence, almost as an afterthought. The information is not
necessary for the sentence to make sense. To show this in writing we use
commas.

They are separated by commas in writing (there are commas before and after),
and by a pause on either side (where the commas are) in speaking.

I like the things you say to me. (No commas, no pauses)

My aunt (pause), who has been a widow for twenty years (pause), loves
travelling.

NDR clauses are common in the written language. In the spoken language we can
avoid a NDR clause.

My friend Andrew plays the bagpipes. He’s Scottish, by the way.

We generally use which not that in non-defining clauses.

Pablo Picasso, who died in 1973, was a painter and sculptor.

The book, which I hadn’t read, was still on the shelf.

This gives extra information about the book. We could miss out the relative clause
and the meaning would still be clear.

My friend Andrew, who is Scottish, plays the bagpipes.

My friend Andrew is clearly defined. We don’t need to know which Andrew is being
discussed. The clause who is Scottish gives us extra information about him.
 Politicians, who tell lies, are odious.
The clause who tell lies suggests that all politicians tell lies. It isn’t necessary to
identify only those that deceive- they all do!