Relative clauses
Defining and non-defining relative clauses, relative pronouns, omission and prepositions.
Relative clauses give more information about a noun and begin with a relative pronoun: who/whom (people), which (things), that (people or things), whose (possession), and where/when/why (place, time, reason). A defining relative clause identifies which person or thing we mean and takes no commas (The man who phoned is my uncle). A non-defining relative clause adds extra, non-essential information and is separated by commas; it cannot use 'that' (My uncle, who lives in Baku, phoned). When the relative pronoun is the object of a defining clause, we can leave it out (the book (that) I read). In formal English a preposition can come before the pronoun: the house in which I grew up; the man to whom I spoke.
Rules
- 1Use who/that for people, which/that for things, and whose to show possession; that is common in defining clauses but is NEVER used in non-defining clauses.
- 2Non-defining relative clauses add extra information and are always set off by commas; defining relative clauses identify the noun and take no commas.
- 3You may omit the relative pronoun when it is the OBJECT of a defining clause (the film I saw), but not when it is the subject.
- 4After a preposition use 'which' for things and 'whom' for people (the topic about which we spoke; the woman with whom he works); 'that' cannot follow a preposition.
- 5Use 'where' for places, 'when' for times and 'why' for reasons; quantifiers combine with of which/of whom (many of which, most of whom).
Practice
10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard