Defining Relative Clauses
As the name suggests, these clauses give essential information to define or identify the person or thing we are talking about. Obviously, this is only necessary if there is more than one person or thing involved.
Examples
- Dogs that like cats are very unusual.
In this sentence we understand that there are many dogs, but it is clear that we are only talking about the ones that like cats.
If the defining relative clause were removed from the sentence, the sentence would still be gramatically correct, but its meaning would have changed significantly.
- Dogs are very unusual. (if we remove "that like cats" form the example above, we saw that the meaning of the sentence is not the same).
Punctuation
- Commas are not used in defining relative clauses.
Defining relative clauses are composed of a relative pronoun (sometimes omitted), a verb, and optional other elements such as the subject or object of the verb.
Examples
- Children who hate chocolate are uncommon.
- They live in a house whose roof is full of holes.
- An elephant is an animal that lives in hot countries.
- Let's go to a country where the sun always shines.
- The reason why I came here today is not important.
Relative pronouns
The following relative pronouns are used in defining relative clauses:
| |
Person |
Thing |
Place |
Time |
Reason |
| Subject |
who/that
|
which/that
|
|
|
|
| Object |
who/whom/that/
|
which/that/
|
where
|
when
|
why
|
| Possessive |
whose
|
whose
|
|
|
|
Notes:
- The relative pronoun stands in place of a noun.
This noun usually appears earlier in the sentence:
|
The woman
|
who/that
|
spoke at the meeting
|
was very knowledgeable.
|
|
Noun, subject of
main clause
|
relative pronoun referring to 'the woman', subject of 'spoke'
|
verb + rest of relative clause
|
verb + rest of main clause
|
- Who, whom and which can be replaced by that. This is very common in spoken English.
- The relative pronoun can be omitted when it is the object of the clause
|
The woman
|
that
|
the man loved
|
was living in New York.
|
|
Noun, subject of main clause
|
relative pronoun, referring to 'the woman', object of 'loved'
|
verb + rest of relative clause
|
verb + rest of main clause.
|
(You can usually decide whether a relative pronoun is an object because it is normally followed by another subject + verb.)
For more information, please read "Relative Pronouns" in this section.