Defining Relative Clauses

. A Defining Relative Clause gives necessary information and is essential to the meaning of the main sentence. The
clause is not put in commas.

E.g.: He is the actor who was killed in a car crash.

I read the article about teenagers' part-time jobs which was published in the Guardian.

. The relative pronoun can be omitted when it is the object of the relative clause. CONTA
E.g. The man (whom) you spoke to is my boss. CT
This is the factory (which) he left last week.
People Things/Animals/Others

who/that which/that
Subject
The girl who/that is sitting at the corner is my friend Jenny. The book which/that is on that table is mine

who/that/whom
which/that
The girl (who/that/whom) you see at the corner is my friend
The word (which /that) you are writing is not correct
Jenny
Object with a preposition:
with a preposition:
The pen (which/that) you are writing with is very nice
The girl (who(m)/that) you were talking to is Jenny
The pen with which you are writing is very nice
The girl to whom you were talking is Jenny (formal)
whose/of which
whose
Possessive Many species whose habitats are being destroyed run the
That's the man whose wife had an accident last week.
risk of extinction

When/where/why
The year when/in which he was born was 2001.(The
year( which)I was born in was 2001)
Others The city where /in which/ he was born was Madrid.(The city
(which)I was born in is Madrid)
The reason why he refused is unknown.
Cause/motive

Non- Defining: Relative Clauses

A Non- Defining Relative Clause gives extra information and is not essential to the meaning of the main sentence It just
adds some more information. It can be removed from the sentence without destroying the central meaning.
The relative cause is put in commas.

E.g: John, who is very lazy, failed his test again.

In non-defining relative clauses, the relative pronouns can not be omitted and you never use THAT
People Things/Animals/Others
who
which
Subject His father, who is very strict, doesn't let him be out till
The chocolate cake, which looked so nice, didn't taste so well.
late at night.
who/whom
which
Mr Frost, who(m) I told you about some time ago, is in
Your opinion, which I respect, is quite different from mine
a difficult situation
Object With a prep:
With a prep:
Loja, through which we are driving, is a nice village.
Rob, who/whom I was working for, has died.
Loja, which we are driving through, is a nice village.
Rob, for whom I was working, has died
whose whose/of which (Whose can be used especially for animals and of
Possessive Mrs West, whose daughter you like very much, is which for things)
coming for tea this afternoon His latest book, whose title is "New Jobs" , is already a bestseller
 When/where
2002, when/in which he was born, was a good year.(2002,
which I was born in, was a good year )
Others
Loja, where /in which he was born, is beautiful.(Loja, which
I was born in ,is beautiful)

Relative clauses

1 Choose the correct alternatives.

That is the restaurant when / where my parents celebrated their wedding anniversary.
1 Sandra is the girl which / who won the Halloween costume competition.
2 Spain is a country which / when has many beautiful cities.
3 The two weeks before Christmas is the time who / when many people go shopping.
4 Thats the boy whose / who sister is getting married tomorrow.
5 Those are the people which / who arranged the wedding ceremony.
6 Those are the gifts who / which I got for my birthday.

2 Cross out the relative pronoun in the sentences if it is not necessary.

Is this the dress which youre wearing to the party?
1 Thats the caf which I like.
2 Those are the guests who are friends of the bride.
3 How much did you pay for the ring that you bought?
4 Thats the man whose car is parked in front of the church.
5 This is the place where the festival is held every year.

3 Complete the sentences with the relative pronouns /

adverbs who, which, when, where and whose. Add commas where necessary to the
sentences that contain non-defining relative clauses.
The documentary, which we saw last night, was about American customs.
1 Patricia ___________________ is starting university this week is my older sister.
2 The dress shop ___________________ you took me to is amazing!
3 Can you return the books ___________________ you borrowed from me, please?
4 Theres the boy ___________________ broke the window in the school.
5 That caf ___________________ we had lunch yesterday was very expensive.
6 Tom ___________________ father works with me is coming to my house later.
7 She cant remember ___________________ the exam starts.

Relative pronouns and prepositions

4 Choose the correct alternatives.

High school proms, about / to which people wear formal clothes, are held every year in the USA.
1 Stellas designs, for / about which she is very well known, are unique.
2 My grandfather returned to the Spanish city on / in which he was born.
3 The book True Grit, on / about which the film is based, is fantastic.
4 I was invited to a party to / for which I wore a
fancy-dress costume.
5 Their customs, in / about which he didnt know a lot, seemed very strange to him.

5 Complete the sentences with who or whom and write whether the sentences are formal (F)
or informal (I).
The man who is celebrating his birthday is over there.I
1 To ___________________ did you send the flowers? _____
2 I dont know ___________________ he went to the party with. _____
3 ___________________ did they ask to babysit the child? _____
4 With ___________________ will they be dining this evening? _____
5 He didnt tell me ___________________ he had been seeing. _____
6 Put the words in the correct order to form sentences.
the man / last year / lived with / who / Hes / I
Hes the man who I lived with last year.
1 whom / to / did / she / the festival / With / go / ?
__________________________________________
2 visited / the house / We / the author / in / was born / which
__________________________________________
3 a festival / Diwali / is / at / people / light / candles / which
__________________________________________
4 saw / a boy / I / went / with / to school / Today / who / I
__________________________________________
5 famous / My sisters cakes / delicious / which / are / for / is / she
__________________________________________

7 Rewrite the informal sentences in a more formal way.

The woman who I was talking to is a bridesmaid at the wedding.
The woman to whom I was talking is a bridesmaid at the wedding.
1 Shes a writer who I know nothing about.
__________________________________________
2 Those are the people who I sent the flowers to.
__________________________________________
3 The boy who my sister is playing with lives next door.
__________________________________________
4 Thats the girl who I go to school with.
__________________________________________
Relative clauses; relative pronouns and prepositions

8 Rewrite the sentences with relative pronouns and adverbs. If the pronoun / adverb can be
omitted, put it in brackets. Add commas where necessary.
Thats the book. I was telling you about it.
Thats the book (which) I was telling you about.
1 Susan is travelling to Madrid next month. Her son is a doctor.
__________________________________________
2 They are the people. They invited us to their party.
__________________________________________
3 These are the diamonds. I bought them in Greece.
__________________________________________
4 The day was 2 September. Our baby was born.
__________________________________________
5 This jumper is too small. It was made by my mother.
__________________________________________
6 This is the place. She met her boyfriend here.
__________________________________________

9 Complete the mini-dialogues with suitable relative pronouns or relative pronouns with
prepositions.
A Why are you looking at that old house?
B Thats the house in which I was born.
1 A Why is this day circled on your calendar?
B Thats the day ___________________ I got married.
2 A Do you know anything about those paintings?
B Yes, those are the paintings ___________________ van
de Meer is famous.
3 A Thats the woman ___________________ son robbed
the bank.
B Really? She must be very upset.
4 A Lets talk about eighteenth-century poetry.
 B No thanks. Eighteenth-century poetry,
___________________ I know nothing, is a rather
boring subject.
5 A Mary, ___________________ is going to teach me to
speak German, is standing over there.
B Oh, lets go and talk to her.
6 A What are you studying?
B Im revising some of the verbs ___________________
we learnt last week.

10Complete the second sentence with between two and five words so that it has the same
meaning as the first sentence. Use the bold words.
Peter, who did you send the email to? (to)
Peter, to whom did you send the email?
1 Thats my father. I would do anything for him. (whom)
Thats my father ___________________ I would do anything.
2 Thats the hostel owner. I know very little about him. (about)
Thats the hostel owner ___________________ I know very little.
3 The hall we rented for the ceremony was very dirty. (which)
The hall, ___________________ for the ceremony, was very dirty.
4 That man was late for work. (who)
That ___________________ was late for work.
5 Ali H is the singer. His song was in the top ten last week. (whose)
Ali H is ___________________ song was in the top ten last week.
6 Pats sculptures are in a museum. Hes famous for them. (which)
Pats sculptures, ___________________, are in a museum.
7 The people who I went to the festival with are my cousins. (whom)
The people ___________________ I went to the festival are my cousins.

11Correct the sentences. Two sentences are correct.

Shes the woman which made my sisters wedding dress.
Shes the woman who made my sisters wedding dress.
1 The glasses, that I bought yesterday, are very nice.
__________________________________________
2 Ivan who mother is Polish always visits us at Easter.
__________________________________________
3 Do you remember the day when you went to her wedding?
__________________________________________
4 Those are the presents we bought for her birthday.
__________________________________________
5 Thats the country for which we met some nice people.
__________________________________________
6 Lets find a cinema who shows films all night.
__________________________________________
7 We didnt know that to get them for their anniversary.
__________________________________________
8 Thats the boy whom I sent the letter to.
__________________________________________