Relative Clauses

Relative Clauses

 They give more information about a noun

(person, place, object, idea…) in the
sentence.

He’s the man that scored the winning goal.

The hotel which is in front of the beach is quite

expensive.
Relative clauses can begin with these words:

✓ who → person. The woman who is in front of

you smells of garlic.

✓ which → object. The phone which is on the

shelf is already broken.

✓ whose → indicates possession. The man

whose wallet was stolen is very angry.
Relative clauses can begin with these words:

✓ that → object or person. The man that is in front of us

talks too much. / The door that doesn’t work will be
fixed tomorrow.

✓ where →place. The café where we met is being

torn down.

✓ when → time. The month when we met was very

rainy.
Defining relative clauses: necessary to the
sentence.

She’s the candidate who won the contest.

Non-defining relative clauses: give extra

information about the noun.

My friend, who is an architect, stopped by

the class today.
 Relative clauses as sentence
modifiers
 When a relative clause begins with “which”, we
can use it to comment on the whole sentence.

They didn’t bring any food, which is unusual,

since they always bring snacks.

She called me at midnight, which was rude,

because she knows I work early mornings.
Defining and Non-defining
A defining relative clause tells which noun
we are talking about:

•I like the woman who lives next door.

(If I don't say 'who lives next door', then we

don't know which woman I mean).
A non-defining relative clause gives us
extra information about something. We
don't need this information to understand
the sentence.

•I live in London, which has some fantastic

parks.

(Everybody knows where London is, so

'which has some fantastic parks' is extra
information).
The relative pronoun is the object:
Next, let's talk about when the relative
pronoun is the object of the clause. In this
case we can drop the relative pronoun if
we want to. Again, the clause can come
after the subject or the object of the
sentence. Here are some examples:
(Clause after the object)
•She loves the chocolate (which / that) I
bought.
•We went to the village (which / that) Lucy
recommended.
PRACTICE
Choose the correct relative pronoun or
relative adverb.
1.A castle is a place where
_______ a king or queen
lives.

2.An actress is a woman ________

who plays in
films or theatre plays.

whose mother is from

3.This is the girl ________
Canada.
4. This is the time of the year______many
when
people suffer from hayfever.

which grow in the

5. The flowers ________
garden are beautiful.
Practice 2
Decide whether the relative pronoun is
necessary or not.

This is the picture that Jane painted.

A. relative pronoun is necessary

B. relative pronoun is not necessary
Do you know the man who is speaking on
the phone?

A. relative pronoun is necessary

B. relative pronoun is not necessary

We ate the sweets which my mother had

bought.

A. relative pronoun is necessary

B. relative pronoun is not necessary
Is this the boy who plays the piano?

A. relative pronoun is necessary

B. relative pronoun is not necessary

This is the house that was broken into.

A. relative pronoun is necessary

B. relative pronoun is not necessary
Practice 3
Complete the sentences using a
relative clause.

Catherine and Sue are two girls (like

dancing)_____________________.
who like dancing

My mobile phone is something (be very

important to me) _____________________.
which is very
important to me.
Complete the sentences using a
relative clause.

Antony is a friend of mine (live in

who lives in Boston
Boston) _____________________.

West Side Story is a musical (be very

which is very famous.
famous)_____________________.
 Complete the sentences using a
relative clause.

An airport is a place (planes land)

_______________.
where planes land
Practice 4
 Combine the sentences using relative
clauses without relative pronouns (contact
clauses).

We bought a car last week. The car is

blue.

The car ________________________.

we bought last week is blue.
 Combine the sentences using relative
clauses without relative pronouns (contact
clauses).

The girl is a singer. We met her at the

party.

The girl _____________________.

we met at the party is a singer
 Combine the sentences using relative
clauses without relative pronouns (contact
clauses).

The bananas are on the table. George

bought them.
The bananas George
______________________.
bought are on the table
 Combine the sentences using relative
clauses without relative pronouns (contact
clauses).

We watched a film last night. It was really

scary.

The film we watched last night was really scary

_________________________.
 Combine the sentences using relative
clauses without relative pronouns (contact
clauses).

I have to learn new words. They are very

difficult.

The new wordsI _____________________.

have to learn are very difficult
Practice 5
1. This is the bank __________
whichwas robbed yesterday.

whose
2. A boy ________sister is in my class was in the
bank at that time.

3. The man ______robbed

who the bank had two pistols.
4. He wore a mask_________
which made him look like
Mickey Mouse.

5. He came with a friend _______

who waited outside in
the car.

6. The woman ______

who gave him the money was young
7. The bag _______
whichcontained the money was
yellow.

8. The people _______

who were in the bank were very
frightened.

9. A man ______
whos mobile was ringing did not know
what to do.
e
10. A woman ________
whose daughter was crying tried
to calm her.

11. The car ________

whichthe bank robbers escaped in
was orange.

12. The robber _______

whosemask was obviously too
big didn't drive.
Practice 6
 Combine the following sentences using
relative pronouns

Al Gore gave a long and boring speech. He won the

Nobel Prize.

Al Gore, who won the Nobel Prize, gave a

long and boring speech.
Social network sites will definitely change
business. They are very popular.

Social network sites, which are very

popular, will definitely change business.
Mr Brown has been invited to join our club. He
enjoys going to the theatre.

Mr Brown, who enjoys going to the theatre,

has been invited to join our club. .
People live in Scotland. They are called Scots.

Mr Brown, who enjoys going to the theatre,

has been invited to join our club. .
We first went to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is the
capital of Scotland.

Mr Brown, who enjoys going to the theatre,

has been invited to join our club. .
Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh. He
wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Arthur Conan Doyle , who wrote the

Sherlock Holmes stories, was born in
Edinburgh.
Loch Ness is 37 km long. People know it for its
friendly monster.

Loch Ness , which people know for its

friendly monster, is 37 km long.
The mountain is the highest mountain in
Great Britain. It is called Ben Nevis.

The mountain , which is the highest

mountain in Great Britain, is called Ben
Nevis.