We use defining relative clauses to add

essential information to a sentence. The clause

goes immediately after the noun it describes.
“This is the man who sold me the car.”
 We use relative pronouns:
• who, that – for people
• which, that – for objects
• where – for places
• whose – to talk about possession
• when, that – for a time
• why, that – for a reason
• whom – for object pronouns (people)
 He is the man who / that owns this car.
 This is the house where I was born.
 The girl whose party I went to phoned me.
 We can leave out who, which, that, whose,
when the clause is the object of a sentence.

“The doctor I spoke to told me not to worry.”

“The man I saw was very rude.”
“Mr Smith is the teacher my son likes best.”
 We can’t leave out the relative pronoun in a
defining relative clause that refers to the
subject.

“The doctor who treated me told me not to

worry.”
“That’s the dog that attacked my children”
 In defining relative clauses why and when,
unlike where can be omitted

 I'd like to know the reason (why) he decided

not to come

 BUT! She always had wanted to go to a place

where she could speak her native tongue
 We use non-defining relative clauses to add
non-essential information to a sentence. The
clause goes immediately after the noun it
describes. If we removed the relative clause,
the sentence would still make sense of its own.

“Pedro, who is my brother, lives in Astillero.”

 We use commas to separate a no-defining
clause from the rest of the sentence.
 We use relative pronouns:
• who – for people
• which – for things
• where – for places
• when – for time
• whose – for possession

“Santander, where I live, is a beautiful city.”

“My father, who is sixty four, is going to retire soon.”
 We can’t leave out the relative pronoun in
non-defining relative clauses.

“John, who is English, helped me write the essay.”