Student´s name:__________________________ Teacher: Jimena Castellión Date:________

English Department

Grammar Notes: Relative Clauses

Introduction

Here is a brief review of adjective clauses and relative pronouns. An

adjective clause

is used to

describe

a noun:

The car,which was red, belonged to Young-Hee.

relative pronoun

is usually used to

introduce

an adjectiveclause:

Young-Hee,whois a Korean student, lives in Victoria.

The main relative pronouns are:Who:

used for

humans

Hans,whois an architect, lives in Berlin.

Which:

used for

things and animals

Marike has a dogwhichfollows her everywhere.

That:

used for

humans, animals and things

(but see below):

Marike is decorating a housethatHans designed.

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Student´s name:__________________________ Teacher: Jimena Castellión Date:________

English Department

There are two main kinds of adjective clause:Non-defining clauses:

give

extra information

about thenoun, but they are

not essential

The desk in the corner,which is covered in books, ismine.

(We don't need this information in order to understand the sentence. "The desk in thecorner is mine" is a good sentence on its own -- we still know which desk is referred to.Note that non-defining clauses are usually separated by commas, and

that

is not usuallyused in this kind of context.)

Defining clauses:

give

essential information

about thenoun

The packagethat arrived this morningis on the desk.

(We need this information in order to understand the sentence. Without the relative clause,we don't know which package is being referred to. Note that

that

is often used in non-defining relative clauses, and they are not separated by commas.)

Adjective Clauses

adjective clause

is a dependent clause which takes the place of an adjective in another clause or phrase. Like an adjective, an adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun, answering questions like"which?" or "what kind of?" Consider the following examples:

Adjective

the

red

coat

Adjective clause

the coat

which I bought yesterday

Like the word "red" in the first example, the dependent clause "which I bought yesterday" in thesecond example modifies the noun "coat." Note that an adjective clause usually comes

after

what itmodifies, while an adjective usually comes

before

.In formal writing, an adjective clause begins with the relative pronouns"who(m)," "that," or "which." In informal writing or speech, you may leave out the relative pronoun when it is not the

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Student´s name:__________________________ Teacher: Jimena Castellión Date:________

English Department

subject of the adjective clause, but you should usually include the relative pronoun in formal,academic writing:

informal

The books people read were mainly religious.

formal

The books

that

people read were mainly religious.

informal

Some firefighters never meet the people they save.

formal

Some firefighters never meet the people

whom

they save.

Here are some more examples of adjective clauses:

the meat

which they ate

was tainted

This clause modifies the noun "meat" and answers the question "which meat?".

about the movie

which made him cry

This clause modifies the noun "movie" and answers the question "which movie?".

they are searching for the one

who borrowed the book

The clause modifies the pronoun "one" and answers the question "which one?".

Did I tell you about the author

whom I met

The clause modifies the noun "author" and answers the question "which author?".

You can use a

relative pronoun

to link onephraseor clauseto another phrase or clause. The relative pronouns are "who," "whom," "that," and "which."

Grammar Exercise: Adjective Clauses

Combine the two sentences to make one, using an adjective clause. For example,"I met Mary in the hall. She is a tour guide."becomes"I met Mary, who is a tour guide, in the hall."

1.The man was sick. He looked very pale.Correct answer(s):The man, who looked very pale, was sick.The man, who was sick, looked very pale.The man who looked very pale was sick.The man who was sick looked very pale.

He was sitting in the emergency room. It was very crowded.