DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

& NON DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

A. Defining relative clauses

Defining relative clauses are used to give information about someone or something (a noun) –
information is essential to understand what or who is being referred to.
The noun + relative pronoun + the defining relative clause.
The relative pronouns are: who, that, which, whose, whom.
They introduce a defining relative clause this way:
• They are the people who want to rent our flat. 
• We should give the money to somebody who needs the treatment most. 
• They are the people who/that rent our flat. (The people rent our flat.
The people is the subject.)
• Here are some treatments which/that the researcher has discovered.
(The researcher has discovered some treatments. Some treatments is the object.) 
IMPORTANT: NO COMMA

B. Non-defining relative clauses

When we use a non-defining relative clauses we give an extra information about some person or
thing.
The information is not necessary, the speaker just wants to offer a context. We don’t really need
it to understand who or what is being referred to.
The relative pronoun is important: who, which, whose, whom, we can’t skip it.
The noun + the relative pronoun + the non-defining relative clause.
• Right: David, who I work with, is getting a promotion this month.
• Wrong: David, I work with, is getting a promotion this month.
.
IMPORTANT: NO THAT
Punctuation:
• When we write, we need two commas around non-defining relative clauses:
My uncle, who lives in Spain, is a doctor.
 The information given by a defining relative clause is essential, we can’t leave out
the relative clause <=> The information in a non-defining relative clause isn’t
essential, we can leave out the relative clause.
• The boy who had blue T-shirt seemed to be the most important one.
 without this information we do not know which boy the speaker is referring to => the clause is a
defining one.
• The tournament was finished when Simona Halep, who was number one in the world for more
than a year, won in front of Serena Williams.
It is a non-defining relative clauses which we can leave out: The tournament was finished when
Simona Halep won in front of Serena Williams.
We can replace who with that in defining relative clauses, but not in non-defining relative
clauses:
 The girl, who came to us earlier, is my cousin.
 The girl that came to us earlier is my cousin.