4º ESO GRAMMAR

RELATIVE SENTENCES
They are two sentences that are joined together by a relative pronoun. The sentence
introduced by the relative pronoun is used to give information about an element of the main
clause. Sometimes this information is essential to understand the main clause (Defining
relative sentences), other times the relative clause give extra information about the main
clause (Non-defining relative sentences).

DEFINING RELATIVE SENTENCES

They are used to define people, things, moments or places that we don’t know previously.
They are essential to understand the main clause.
Ex:
● The man who / that was sitting next to me is my cousin.
● This is the book which / that I recommend you to read.
● The town where I was born isn’t very big.
● That was the day when / that she decided to stop smoking.
● He is the boy whose dreams came true.

Relative pronouns in Defining relative clauses:

WHO: used to refer to people. It can be substituted by “THAT”.

The relative pronoun can be the subject of the relative clause (relative pronoun + verb):
● The man who / that was sitting next to me is my cousin.
The relative pronoun can also be the object of the relative clause (relative pronoun + subject
+ verb). In this case, we can omit the relative pronoun.
● The girl who / that I was talking to is my neighbour.
● The girl I was talking to is my neighbour.

WHICH: used to refer to things. It follows the same rules as “Who”. It can be substituted by
“that”.
The relative pronoun can be the subject of the relative clause (relative pronoun + verb):
● He found a coin which / that was two centuries old.
The relative pronoun can also be the object of the relative clause (relative pronoun + subject
+ verb). In this case, we can omit the relative pronoun.
● The book which / thatI am reading was written by my teacher
● The book I am reading was written by my teacher.
4º ESO GRAMMAR

WHEN: It refers to moments. It can be substituted by “That” if it follows the words “day, year,
week”. It can also be omitted as it is a complement in the relative clause.
● The day when / that I met you was one of the happiest days in my life.
● The day I met you was one of the happiest days in my life.

WHERE: It refers to places. It cannot be substituted by any other relative pronoun, or cannot
be omitted.
● The town where I was born isn’t very big.

WHOSE: it refers to someone’s possessions. It is always followed and preceded by a noun.

It cannot be substituted by any other relative pronoun, or cannot be omitted.
● He is the boy whose dreams came true.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE SENTENCES

These sentences are used when we want to give extra information about a person, a thing, a
place that we already know. They don’t give essential information. They are always
separated by commas.
We use the same relative pronouns that we use in Defining relative clauses. However, the
relative pronouns cannot be substituted by “that”. They cannot be omitted either.
Examples:
● John, who lives in Paris, has just bought an apartment in Liverpool.
● Grease, which is one of my favourite films, was released in 1978.
● Aberdeen, where my sister leaves, is in Scotland.
● Last week I met Peter Haversham, whose sister works with me.