relative clauses

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Relative clauses

what is a relative clause?

My brother, who is 24 years old, still lives at home

A relative clause is a non-essential part of a sentence. 

My mother, who works all days of the week, is always tired. 

DEFINING CLAUSES

- tells which specific person or thing we are talking about in a larger group of people or things. 

- If a defining relative clause is removed, the meaning of the sentence changes significantly. 

- it is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas or parentheses.

* The woman who visited me in the hospital was very kind.

* The umbrella that I bought last week is already broken.

NON-DEFINING CLAUSES

- gives more information about the person or thing we are talking about. 

- If a non-defining relative clause is removed from a sentence, we lose some detail, but the overall meaning of the sentence remains the same. 

- always set off from the rest of the sentence with commas or parentheses.

* The farmer, whose name was Fred, sold us 10 pounds of potatoes.

* Elephants, which are the largest land mammals, live in herds of 10 or more adults.

Relative Clauses

who - people

which - animals and things

that - people, animals and things

whose -  replaces a possessive 

(the girls whose doll was lost is sad) 

That = informal than who/which

Where/when/why instead of a relative pronoun

(I live in the city where I study)

Which RELATIVE CLAUSE suits this sentence:

I want to read the book........you gave me.

1. which, that , who
2. which, that, X
3. who, whose, whom
4. which, that

Which RELATIVE CLAUSE suits this sentence:
The officer, ....... John told his story to, was nice

1. who, that
2. who, that, X
3. who,
4. which, that

We had spaghetti .... is my favourite meal, for dinner last night.

1. whom
2. whose
3. which
4. who

Which 2 words belong to people?

1. who and that
2. who and which
3. which and whom
4. whose and who

When do we use relative clauses?

Any questions??