RELATIVE CLAUSES

 Relative clauses are introduced by a relative pronoun:

who, which, that, whose, when, where, why.
 Martha, who is a wonderful woman, will never understand
your betrayal
 I don’t know what you mean
 Relative clauses modify the meaning of an element of
the clause, called the antecedent. The antecedent is
usually a noun.
 Relative pronouns have a triple function:
 Deictic
 Substitution
 Grammatical role within the clause: S, O, PO,…
 DEFINING vs NON-DEFINING
RELATIVE CLAUSES

 Nouns describe
categories: They are
like boxes
 DEFINING vs NON-DEFINING
RELATIVE CLAUSES

Nouns can be used to designate any

member of a category or a specific
member of that category
 There was a chair in the middle of the
room.
 And then I saw the king’s chair.
Defining clauses are used to specify which specific
member(s) of a category we are talking about:
 A chair in this class is broken. 
 The chair that Laura is sitting on is broken.
 Scientists are frowned upon. 
 Scientists who believe in UFOs are frowned upon.

Non-defining clauses are used to give additional

information on an already specified member of a
category
 Laura’s chair, which is broken, was bought only
recently.
 Scientists, who are trained to use reason, rarely
believe in UFOs.
Defining relative clauses:
Relative pronouns
Subject Object Other

Antecedent who who/whom

+human that that whose
(none) when
Antecedent which which where
-human that that why
(none)
 Defining relative clauses:
pronoun as subject
 The officer who deals with that area is not here at
the moment.
 The person that interviewed me was not very polite.
 The car which is parked outside broke down after
five kilometres.
 I have brought a book that deals with crime in the
USA.
That is much less frequent than “who”, except after
superlatives and after all, nobody, no one, somebody,
someone, anybody, person, people, etc., when either
who or that can be used.
 Defining relative clauses:
pronoun as object
 The person (who/whom/that) you saw yesterday is
my maths teacher.
 The book (that/which) he wrote was very difficult
to read.
 The car (that/which) she has just bought is really
fast

The relative pronoun can be left out when...

 The relative clause is defining, AND
 The relative pronoun is the object of the verb in
the clause.
 Defining relative clauses:
other pronouns

 Living in a house whose walls were made of

glass would be horrible.
 This is the place where I met my wife.
 I remember a time when people did not use
cell phones.
 He never told me the reason why he
dropped out of school.
 Prepositions used with relative
pronouns in defining clauses
+ Formal / - frequent
 The chair on which Antonio is sitting is about to collapse.
 This is the village from which/where I come.
 This is the house in which (not in where) my mother was born.
 The relative pronoun “that” cannot be used in this construction
- Formal / -frequent
 The chair which / that Antonio is sitting on is about to collapse.
 This is the village which/where/that I come from
 The relative pronoun “that” can be used in this construction
- Formal / +frequent
 The chair Antonio is sitting on is about to collapse
 This is the village I come from
 The relative pronoun can be omitted because it is not the subject
 NON-DEFINING RELATIVE
CLAUSES
 Non-defining relative clauses are placed
after nouns which are already definite.
 These clauses provide further information,
which could be left out, about the
antecedent.
 Commas must be used.
 The pronoun can never be omitted.
 That cannot be used as a relative pronoun.
Relative pronouns used in non-
defining relative clauses

Subject Object Possessive

Antecedent who who whose

+ human whom
Antecedent which which whose
- human
 Non-defining relative
clauses: subject

 My father-in-law, who is very pessimistic, is

always predicting catastrophes.

 That tower block, which is 100 metres high,

was built in 1996.
Non-defining relative clauses:
object

 James, who/whom everybody suspected,

turned out to be innocent.

 He gave me his book, which he had used the

previous year.
Non-defining relative clauses:
Possessive

 Belén Esteban, whose manners are

beautifully elaborate, stated that she would
kill for her daughter.

 My neighbour’s house, whose windows are

broken, is not a safe place.
 Prepositions
used with relative pronouns
in non-defining clauses

Since this structure is rather formal,

prepositions usually come at the beginning of
the clause.

 Mr Smith, for whom Sally was working,

was very generous about overtime
payments.
 CONNECTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSES
 Connective relative clauses have the same form as
non-defining relative clauses.
 Natalie Portman smiled at him, which made him
absolutely happy.
 They do not have a noun as an antecedent, but rather
the whole previous sentence is the antecedent.
 Their function is to continue the narration
 We can replace the relative pronoun by and or but
and a subject:
 He struck the keyboard carelessly, which broke the
key.
 He struck the keyboard carelessly and he broke the
key.