RELATIVE CLAUSES AND PRONOUNS

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

WHO People
WHICH Things
THAT People or things
WHOSE Possessive form
This is George, whose brother went to school with me
He is the man whose daughter got married yesterday.
Peter, whose wife won the lottery, has just resigned from his job.
The students, whose exam grades were excellent, are having a party tonight
WHERE To make it clear which place we are talking about

Do you remember the place where we caught the train?

Stratford-upon-Avon is the town where Shakespeare was born
WHEN  To make it clear which time we are talking about
 We can leave out when

England won the World Cup in 1966. It was the year when we got married
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day when the tsunami happened

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

 We use these clauses to make clear which person or thing we are talking about
 we can use that instead of who or which
 We can leave out the pronoun if it is the object of the relative clause

The woman who/that won the lottery this week lives in Milan
The computer which/that I used to write this is six years old
Marie Curie is the woman who/that discovered radium
This is the house which/that Jack built

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

 We use these clauses to give extra information about a person, thing or situation
 We use commas
 We cannot use that

My mother, who lives in France, is coming to visit me next week

My computer, which was originally bought to do graphics work, is very fast
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired
We had fish and chips, which I always enjoy
I met Rebecca in town yesterday, which was a nice surprise
REDUCED RELATIVE CLAUSES

We delete the relative pronoun and the verb when:

a) they are followed by a prepositional phrase

The man who is in the house is my father = The man in the house is my father.
The books that are on the desk are mine = The books on the desk are mine.

b) the main verb in the relative clause is continuous

The man who is swimming in the lake is my father = The man swimming in the lake is my father.
The books that are lying on the floor are mine = The books lying on the floor are mine.

Links:
https://www.insegnanti-inglese.com/grammar-1/relative-clause.html
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/relative-pronouns-and-relative-
clauses
https://eslgold.com/grammar/reduced_relative_clauses/