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Home > Articles > English lessons > Defining relative clauses & relative pronouns

Defining relative clauses & relative pronouns

16th January 2019 by Andrew 1 Comment

Defining relative clauses (also known as restrictive relative clauses) identify a noun more clearly. They make it clear which specific person or thing we are talking about.

Example:

The man is my brother.

businessmen
by Ambro | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This sentence is not clear because there are 2 men. Which man is my brother? We use a defining relative clause to make it more clear:


The man who is standing is my brother.

The underlined text “who is standing” is the defining relative clause.  It defines more precisely the “man”. That is why it is called a “defining relative clause.”  It narrows down a large group to a clearly defined one.

Relative clauses are good because they allow us to write complex sentences.

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are part of the relative clause. We link the relative clause to the noun with a relative pronoun.

There are 5 relative pronouns as follows:

who
whom
which
that
whose

Let’s look at each one in more detail.

who

We use “who” for people only. It acts as the subject pronoun.

Example:
The customer who called me was happy. (subject pronoun)

In modern English, “who” is also commonly used as an object pronoun.

Example:
The customer who I called was angry. (object pronoun)

However, it should be noted that in strict English grammar, “who” is only used as a subject pronoun. In more formal English, “whom” is used as an object pronoun.

whom

We use “whom” for people only. It acts as the object pronoun.

Example:
The customer whom I called was angry. (object pronoun)

angry man on phone
by imagerymajestic | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

“whom” is only really used in very formal English. It is more common to use “who” as the object pronoun for people.
“who” and “whom” are often replaced by “that” in spoken English (see below).

which

We use “which” for things or animals. “which” acts as a subject or object pronoun.

Examples
It’s a book which will interest you. (subject pronoun)
The car which he bought was expensive. (object pronoun)

“which” is often replaced by “that” in spoken English (see below).

that

We use “that” for people or things. “that” acts as a subject or object pronoun.

Examples with people:
The customer that called me was angry. (subject pronoun)
The customer that I called was happy. (object pronoun)

Examples with things:
It’s a film that scared us. (subject pronoun)
The dress that she was wearing was beautiful. (object pronoun)

“that” is very common in spoken English.

whose

We use “whose” for people or things. “whose” acts as a possessive pronoun. This means it defines who owns something or someone (who is the parent of someone).

Examples:

New York City skyline

I know a man whose daughter lives in New York.
(The daughter of the man lives in New York.)

Jane works in a restaurant whose manager is never there.
(The manager of the restaurant is never there.)

Position of prepositions in a defining relative clause

There are 2 choices for the position of prepositions:

  1. before the relative pronoun (formal)
  2. at the end of the relative clause (informal)

Examples:
I like the people with whom I work. (formal)
I like the people that I work with. (informal)

That is the flat in which my parents live. (formal)
That is the flat which my parents live in. (informal)

“who” or “that” are not used after prepositions:
I like the people with who I work. wrong
That is the flat in that my parents live. wrong

Omission of the relative pronoun

The relative pronoun can be omitted when it is the object of the clause. This is optional. We can leave it in if we want.

Examples:
The customer who I called was very happy. correct
The customer I called was very happy. correct

He is eating the sandwich that you made. correct
He is eating the sandwich you made. correct

man eating sandwich
by Ambro | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause, it cannot be omitted. We must leave it in.

Examples:
The customer who called me was angry. correct
The customer called me was angry. wrong

Punctuation rule with defining relative clauses

We do not use commas (,) to separate the relative clause from the rest of the sentence when writing defining relative clauses.

It’s a book which will interest you. correct
It’s a book, which will interest you. wrong

The girl who is talking to Mark is my sister. correct
The girl, who is talking to Mark, is my sister. wrong

We only use commas when writing non-defining relative clauses.

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Comments

  1. Nurat says

    21st February 2020 at 1:53 pm

    Very interesting and educated

    Reply

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