KOCAELI UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN
LANGUAGES
GRAMMAR LESSONS

RELATIVE CLAUSES
(ADJECTIVE CLAUSES)
 RELATIVE CLAUSES

 What is relative clause ?

 Adjective Clause

 Relative clauses give us information about the

person, thing, place or any noun mentioned.
What is the purpose of using relative clauses?

 The car is mine.

 Which car is yours?

 The car which is red is mine.
 Let’s have a look at the structure;

Look at the structure of this sentence:

I’ve got a camera which takes great photos.

Noun relative verb
pronoun

Notice that we don’t repeat the

subject pronoun in the relative
clause:
I’ve got a camera which it takes
Look at the structure of this sentence:
great photos.
I broke the camera which my father bought.
Noun relative subject verb
pronoun
 Relative Clauses

Who – for people

 The woman who works in the bank is my neighbor.

 People who eat fast-food may have illnesses in future.

 We are looking for a person who can speak English and German.

 I bought a gift for the child who carried my bag.

 What is the name of the girl who you met?

 People who speak fast can’t be understood clearly.

 Relative Clauses

Which – for things & animals

• Her perfume which she bought yesterday smells nice.

• Unfortunately, we can not publish the article which you have sent.

• Where is the pencil which I gave you yesterday?

• You need to tick the box which says yes.

• I saw a cat which had a yellow spot on its fur.

 Relative Clauses

That – for people, things & animals

 I’m looking for a house which / that is cheaper than other houses.

 I got the e-mail which / that you sent me yesterday.

 My friend who / that loves reading books a lot writes weekly essays
for our school newspaper.

 My shoes which / that we bought last year still seem like new.

 It is the opportunity which/that you must asses.

 Relative Clauses
whose – for possessions
Whose instead of possessive adjectives
such as his, their, our, or its. You can use
it for people or things.
 Ayşe is a girl. Her father works for TUBITAK.

Ayşe is the girl whose father works for TUBITAK.

 This a tree. Its leaves are used to treat malaria.

This is the tree whose leaves are used to treat malaria.

 Relative Clauses

Where – for place

• He works in a factory where 10.000 cars are produced in a day.

• This is the town where I was born.

•

• This is the hotel where we stayed last summer.

• Do you remember the place where we caught the train?

• A post office is a place where you can buy stamps.

 Relative Clauses
Which/ Where –
for place
• This is the hotel. We stayed THERE last summer.
This is the hotel where we stayed last summer.

• This is the hotel. THE HOTEL (IT) has a perfect view.

This is the hotel which has a perfect view.

 There is a local restaurant. We eat THERE every weekend.

There is a local restaurant where we eat every weekend

 There is a local restaurant. THE RESTAURANT (IT) serves local food.

There is a local restaurant which serves local food.
 Relative Clauses
Which/ Where –
for place
 I don’t like the cities which have traffic problems.
 I don’t like the cities where lots of people live.

 This is the new restaurant which serves Japanese food.

 This is the restaurant where we had dinner yesterday.

 Bursa is a city where I was born.

 Bursa is a city which has a population of two million.
 More Examples

 We don’t know the student who /that got the highest

score . (subject)

 Richard is my friend who/that I told you about

yesterday. (object)

 You must meet the man who /that broke the new
world record in table tennis. (subject)
 Relative Clause

The couple who live next door have three dogs.

(There are more than one couple living around.)

Explanation: If the speaker doesn’t say «couple who live next door» , the
hearer might not understand which couple is mentioned. Therefore, this
information is necessary in this sentence.

 These clauses provide important information which

is needed to understand the sentence.
 RELATIVE CLAUSES

 He's the man that I met at the conference.

 The laptop which I bought last week has started

making a strange noise!

 The man who didn’t put on a mask was punished by

the police.
 Let’s practice!
Find and correct the errors in these sentences. If the sentence is correct,
please put a tick.

1. Do you know the tennis player who she won the tournament?

who
2. I’ve got a cousin which is a black belt in karate.

3. Tofu is a food which is popular in Japan; lots of vegetarians like it too.

which
4. My neighbour has a garden who is twice as big as ours.

which/that
5. That’s the car was in the police chase last week in the town centre.
 Let’s practice!
Find and correct the errors in these sentences. If the sentence is correct,
please put a tick.

6. That’s the bike which my parents have bought me for my birthday.

where
10. This is the cafe which we celebrated Jack’s birthday last week.

11. Let’s go to the restaurant which is in the city center.

A. Combine the two sentences into one sentence by using suitable pronoun.

 1. a. He gave me the letter. b. It was in blue envelope.

_______________________________________________________.
 2. a. My sister is 25 years old. b. She spent her holiday in France.

 _______________________________________________________.

 3. a. My brother lives in Sidney. b. He came to see me last month.

_______________________________________________________.
 4. a. Besiktas JK is a football club. b. Besiktas JK is trying to transfer a brilliant
player. _______________________________________________________.
 5. a. Tourists want to visit Cappadocia. b. There are a lot of fairy chimneys
there. _______________________________________________________.
 Some links for self study!!!

 https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-
intermediate/relative-clauses-defining-relative-clauses

 https://agendaweb.org/grammar/relatives-pronouns-worksheets-resources.html

 https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-clause-
exercises.html#google_vignette

 https://www.english-practice.at/b1/grammar/relative-clauses/b1-relative-clauses-
index.htm

 https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/relative-
pronouns-and-relative-clauses

 http://www.dersimizingilizce.com/ingilizce-relative-clauses-who-which-that.html