Relative Clauses

Relative clauses, also known as adjective or attributive clauses, are a type of

complex sentence in English grammar.

The two main types are defining and non-defining relative clauses. They will
start with a relative pronoun or a relative adverb. We can also reduce relative
clauses into present or past participle phrases. 

It's important to know how to use them in order to avoid writing relative clause
fragments. Below is an explanation of these clauses and how to use them. 

What do relative clauses do?

Relative clauses describe or provide information about someone or something

(a noun or noun phrase) that has usually already been specified:

Information about a noun/noun phrase:

I like mixing with people who are well read.

 Who refers to 'people'

She ate too much, which led to her putting on a lot of weight.

 Which refers to 'she ate too much'

Relative clauses are also a way in which clauses can be combined so that we
do not repeat ourselves:

Avoid repeating nouns/noun phrases:

I bought a new car. The car has a sun roof.

 I bought a new car, which has a sun roof.

I tried to write the whole essay in one hour. Writing the whole essay in one
hour wasn't possible. 

 I tried to write the whole essay in one hour, which wasn't possible.

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So a less awkward way of speaking/writing is achieved as 'car' is not repeated
in the first example and 'write the whole essay' in the second.

How do I recognise relative clauses?

Relative clauses begin with one of these relative pronouns:

 who
 that
 which
 whose 
 whom
 what

Or one of these relative adverbs:

 where
 when 
 why

These words though, are not just used for relative clauses, so you can't
assume if you see one it is a relative clause. 

It is the sentence position and the context that will tell us whether it is a
relative clause or not. 

Where do they appear in a sentence?

Relative clauses follow whatever it is that they are qualifying.

They commonly qualify or give more information about a noun. This is why
they are also known as adjective clauses.

An adjective describes or clarifies a noun, and in a similar way, a relative or

adjective clause gives more information about or defines a noun.

In this case they will come directly after the noun:

1. After the noun:

I bought a new car (noun), which has a sun roof.

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  The further information is that the car has a sun roof.

I like mixing with people (noun) who are well read.

 The relatives clause clarifies that it is well read people that the person
likes to mix with
If they are qualifying a whole clause, then they come directly after that clause:

2. After the whole clause:

I tried to write the whole essay in one hour, which wasn't possible.

 'Which' refers to the writing of the essay in one hour, so it comes

directly after that whole clause
You'll have noted in the above examples that the relative clause comes after
the main independent clause. 

However, they can also spit up the independent clause. This is if they are
qualifying a noun which is the subject of the sentence, in which case they are
embedded within the main clause: 

3. After the subject:

The students (subject) who studied the hardest got the highest scores in

the test. 

Canberra (subject), which is the capital of Australia, is a relatively new city.

Subjects and Verbs

When we make sentences with relative clauses, we are joining two

independent clauses, which means there will be a subject and verb in each
clause:

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The verb in the relative clause must also agree with the noun that it is
modifying. So in the above example, which is modifying car, and car is a
singular noun. So it takes a singular verb, is.

If it was a plural noun, it would take a plural verb:

The cars, which are my fathers, are in the garage.

Defining and non-defining relative clauses

Relative clauses are either defining  or  non-defining.

Defining
Defining means that they are essential to the sentence and cannot be
omitted. In this case, commas are not used:

 She is the person who stole my bag

If we leave 'who stole my bag' out of the sentence, we don't know what 'she'
did. It is thus an essential clause. In these types of clause, that can also
replace the relative pronoun:

 She is the person that stole my bag

Non-defining

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Non-defining relative clauses add extra information, or non-
essential information, to the sentence:

 The zoo, which was built seven years ago, is one of the best in the
country

The main information about the zoo is that it is one of the best in the country.
'Which was built seven years ago' is extra information and the sentence
makes sense if we leave it out. 

Commas are also used in the second example to separate off this non-
essential information. Also, that cannot be used.

Reducing Relative Clauses

We can also reduce relative clauses. For example:

 The book which is on the table is mine

 The book on the table is mine

 John, who had taken his medicine, laid down and slept

 John, having taken his medicine, laid down and slept

Reduced Relative Clauses

Reduced relative clauses are shortened versions of relative clauses. They are
also known as reduced adjective clauses. 

Relative clauses usually modify a noun or noun phrase in the sentence as in

this example, where the word 'table' is being modified:

 The table that he bought was for his kitchen

In this reduced clause, 'that' is no longer used:

 The table he bought was for his kitchen

However, it is not always just a matter of omitting the relative pronoun. There
are different reduced relative clause rules depending on the sentence
involved. 

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Types of Reduced Relative Clauses
Reduced relative clauses are mainly created through the use of: 

 Present participle phrases 

 Past participle phrases
 Past Participles 
 Prepositional Phrases
 Adjectives and adjective phrases

We'll now look at each of these in turn.

Present Participle Phrases

if the relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clause, then the clause
can be reduced to a present participle (verb + ing) phase or past participle
(verb + ed) phrase.

If the verb is in the active voice, it gets reduced to a present participle

phrase. 

Any active tense can be changed to a present participle phrase e.g. present

simple, past simple, present continuous, present perfect etc.

To do this you delete the relative pronoun and any auxiliary verbs if there are
any, and use the present participle of the main verb. If it is a negative
sentence, then we use 'not' at the beginning of the participle phrase.

Note that in these reduced relative clause examples there are a mix of active
tenses:

Examples:
Affirmatives:

 The people that exercised every day lost the most weight

 The people exercising every day lost the most weight

 There were many employees who were working very hard

 There were many employees working very hard

 The MPs, who have finally voted, are leaving parliament

 The MPs, having finally voted, are leaving parliament

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Negatives:

 The people that did not exercise every day lost the least weight

 The people not exercising every day lost the most weight 

It is worth noting at this point that if a non-defining participle phrase refers to

the subject of the independent clause, the phrase may be placed either
immediately before or after the subject of that independent clause.

So in the case of this sentence, 'having finally voted' refers to the MPs in the
independent clause (MPs are leaving parliament), so it can be placed in two
positions:

Examples:
 The MPs, who have finally voted, are leaving parliament
 The MPs, having  finally voted, are leaving parliament

OR:

 Having finally voted, The MPs are leaving parliament

Past Participle Phrases

Simple Tenses
If the relative clause is in the passive voice and in a simple tense, then it
can be reduced by deleting the relative pronoun and the verb 'to be', leaving
you with the past participle. 

If it is a negative, then you place 'not' at the beginning of the participle

phrase. 

Examples:
 The new illness, which was discovered by a doctor in Nigeria, has not
yet been named
 The new illness, discovered by a doctor in Nigeria, has not yet been
named

 The silk, which is imported from Thailand, is worth a lot

 The silk, imported from Thailand, is worth a lot

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Continuous Tenses
If it is in the passive voice but is a continuous tense verb (present or past),
then you delete the connecting word and 'to be', leaving you with 'being + past
participle'.

You then have a continuous passive participle phrase. 

Examples:
 The building, which is being built by Kingston Developers, should be
completed by May
 The building, being built by Kingston Developers , should be completed
by May

Perfect Tenses
If the clause in the passive perfect tense (present or past), then 'have' or 'had'
is replaced by 'having'. So we end up with 'having + been' to make the
reduced relative clause.

This is a perfect passive particle phrase:

Examples:
 The new Town Hall, which has been designed by TMC Architects Ltd, is
expected to receive several awards
 The new Town Hall, having been designed by TMC Architects Ltd, is
expected to receive several awards

 Taiwan, which had been one of the first countries to close its borders,
showed low numbers of Covid-19 deaths in March
 Taiwan, having been one of the first countries to close its borders,
showed low numbers of Covid-19 deaths in March

Again, if the non-defining participle phrase refers to the subject of the

independent clause, the phrase may be placed either immediately before or
after the subject of that independent clause:

Examples:
 Having been designed by TMC Architects Ltd, the new Town Hall, is
expected to receive several awards

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  Having been one of the first countries to close its borders, Taiwan
showed low numbers of Covid-19 deaths in March

Choosing a Present or Past Participle Phrase

In the case of the perfect tenses, you can choose either a present or past
participle, depending on what you wish to emphasise in the sentence. 

When to Choose the Past participle

If you wish to emphasise the prior completion of the activity in the participle
phrase, 'have' is changed to 'having', leaving you with 'having + past
participle'.

You will then have formed a perfect active participle phrase:

Examples:

 The students that have studied the hardest have the best results 

 The students having studied the hardest have the best results

So in the above example, it emphasised that the hard studying took place

before the best results.

When to Choose the Present Participle

If you do not wish to emphasise in the particle phrase the prior completion of
the activity, then it is more common to use the present participle. 

In this case 'have' is omitted and the main verb of the relative clause is
changed to the present participle. 

Examples:

 The students that have studied the hardest have the best results 

 The students studying the hardest have the best results

Past Participle
We've been looking at present and past participle phrases, but it should also
be noted that we can in cases reduce relative clauses with just a past
particle. 

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We can do this if the sentence has the verb 'to be' or 'to have' and only a past
participle. In this case we can move the past participle to before the modified
noun.

Examples:
 The car, which had broken down, was by the edge of the road
 The broken down car was by the edge of the road

 The glass, which is stained, needs cleaning

 The stained glass needs cleaning

Prepositional Phrases
If the relative pronoun is followed by a prepositional phrase, then this can be
reduced. 

Examples:

 The book that is on the table is mine

 The book on the table is mine

 The house which is across the street is for sale

 The house across the street is for sale

 The man who is in the jacket is my cousin

 The man in the jacket is my cousin

Adjective and Adjective Phrases

Adjectives
If the relative clause has only an adjective and the verb to be within it, then
the adjective can be placed before the noun, and the relative pronoun (and
verb 'to be') can be deleted:

Examples:
 The boy who is oldest won the race
 The oldest boy won the race

 You can carry the box that is lightest

 You can carry the lightest box

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  Let's go to the country which is the hottest
 Let's go to the hottest country 

Adjective Phrases
If there is a verb other than the verb to be (usually sense verbs such as smell,
look, feel, sound etc), then we reduce it to an adjective phrase:

 adjective + verb+ing

Examples:

 The egg, which smelled foul, couldn't be eaten

 The foul smelling egg couldn't be eaten

 I played the song that sounded the best

 I played the best sounding song

 He always wears clothes that look expensive

 He always wears expensive looking clothes

When do we use reduced relative clauses?

Reduced relative clauses can be used to make your writing more concise, so
it is common to use them within formal or academic writing, though they can
appear in any style of writing.  

As the grammatically correct reduction of relative clauses is quite a difficult

skill, it is something the examiner in the IELTS test will look out for when
awarding a band 7 and above for grammatical range and accuracy. 

Note though that this will NOT include reducing relative clauses to
propositional phrases, adjective phrases, or adjectives because when you do
this you are creating a more simple sentence. However, reduced relative
clauses in the form of present and past participle phrases is seen as a higher
level skill. 

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