Relative PronounS &

Relative ClauseS

Read the following lines focussing on the underlined words:

1. She is the woman who always comes late.

2. We were invited by the professor whom we met at the seminar.
3. He has married a girl whose parents do not like him.
4. The car, which was parked on a hill, slowly rolled down the street.
5. The crashed into a traffic sign that stood on the street.

h .
The underlined words in the above sentence are called Relative Pronoun. ( న underline నప ల

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Relative Pronouns అం ము. )

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What is a Relative Pronoun?

v a
A Relative Pronoun refers or relates to some noun going before it. (The noun is called its Antecedent. )

n i
ఒక Pronoun ముందు ఉన Noun గు ం Relative Pronoun అం ము మ యు ఆ

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Noun Antecedent అం ము.

S r
He is a person who has a kind heart.

(ఈ క ం who అ Pronoun, person అ Noun గు ం లు తుం . బ who Relative Pronoun

, person Antecedent లు ము.

అ న న అ దు ల who, whom, whose, which, that అ Relative Pronouns,

మ యు ముందు ఉన Nouns (woman, professor, girl, car, sign లు ) Antecedents అం ము.

How many Relative Pronouns are there?

The Relative Pronouns are: who, whom, whose, which, that.

Read the following table to know their usage:

 Relative Use Examples
Pronoun
1. Who It is used for persons only.  They never fail who die in a great cause.
(Singular and Plural also)
(ఎవ )  He is the person who called you
వ కుల గు ం ప yesterday.
త డు ము.
 We honour the persons who are brave.

 A boy who is good is loved by all.

.
2. Whom It is used only for Persons in the The girl whom I met yesterday has come.

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Objective / Accusative case (for The boy whom I gave the books has secured first

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(ఎవ )

.
Singular & Plural Numbers.) division.

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Rama is the boy whom I want.
కూ Objective case

a
She is the woman whom I love the most.
ఉన Persons గు ం ప

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డ ము.

r in
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3. Whose It is used for Persons and I saw a person whose eyes are blue.
Animals to show Possessive A woman whose children were playing outside
(ఎవ ) Case. called the police.
She apologized to the boy whose glasses got
వ కులు మ యు
broken.
జంతు ల కూ డ ము.
The boy whose father is the Principal is my
ఇ క ఉండ గు ం
friend.
లు తుం .

4. Which It is used for things without life This is the book which you wanted.
and for animals. ( The moment which is lost is lost for ever.
(ఏ ) జంతు లు ణం The pen which I purchased yesterday has been
ముందు డ ము.) lost.
It may refer to a Singular or The house which I live in belongs to my father.
Plural Noun
5. That It is used both for animate and He is the best speaker that I have ever heard.
inanimate things (Singular and He is the same boy that came yesterday.
(ఏ Plural Numbers.) I know the house that he lives in.
ఎవ ) వ కులు, జంతు లు I have not yet read the book that you suggested
మ యు వసు ల గు ం to me.
లప డ ము. I have a computer that is brand‐new.
 Relative Clauses

 Relative Clauses are Subordinate Clauses starting with the Relative Pronouns/Relative Adverbs.

(Relative Clauses అ subordinate Clauses. ఈ Relative Clauses ఎల డూ Relative Pronouns (అన

who,, which, whom, whose, that) Relative Adverbs (where, when, why, how, .)
రంభమ .)

The girl who is in blue is my friend.

.
The village where I was born is very far from here.

h
న underline న ండు లు Relative Clauses అ . ద Clause, Relative Pronoun ,

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ండవ Relative Adverb రం ంచబ .)

s.
 Relative Clause Adjective Clause Adjectival Clause అ కూ లు ము.

a
రణం మూడు ల లు ఉం .

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1. ఈ Clauses ఒక Subject మ యు ఒక verb ఉం .

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2. ఇ Relative Pronouns (అన who,, which, whom, whose, that)

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Relative Adverbs (where,
రంభమ

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when, why, how, .) .)

3. ఇ Adjective వ ప సూ, What kind? How many? or Which one? ం పశ లకు స న .

KINDS OF Relative ClauseS:

There are two kinds of Relative Clauses:

1. defining Relative Clauses( or restrictive) and

2. non‐defining Relative Clauses (non‐restrictive).

ఇ డు ఒ గు ం వరం లుసుకుం ం.

1. DEFINING Relative Clause:

 A defining Relative Clause is required to identify what is being referred to. A defining Relative
Clause tells us which specific person or thing we are talking about in a larger group of people or
things. (మనము ఏ Noun గు ం డుతు ఆ Noun గు ంచ Relative Clause
డ ము. )

 ఇ Sentence ముఖ న గం. Sentence నుం omit య ము.

 It is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas or parentheses. (ఈ ల

 Relative Clauses Comma Paranthesis రు యవదు.)

 ఈ మూడు ఉ హరణలను గమ ంచగలరు.

i) The girl who opened the door was very beautiful.

(ఈ క ం who opened the door అ Relative Clause. ఒక ళ ఈ Clause నట The girl was very
beautiful అ తుం . ఆ girl ఎవ తం మన యదు. ఈ Relative Clause, girl అ noun గు ం
లు తూ, girl ఎవ గు ంచ ఉప గపడుతుం . బ Defining Relative Clause అం ము.
ఈ Clause comma, paranthesis రు య ము . )

ii) The man who stole my car has been arrested by the police. (Here the Relative Clause ‘who stole my
car’ identifies the noun 'man'.)

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iii) The book which you see on the table cost me twenty dollars. (Here the Relative Clause ‘which you

h
see on the table’ identifies the noun book.)

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2. NON‐DEFINING Relative Clauses:

a s
 A non‐defining Relative Clause gives us more information about the person or thing we are

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talking about. (ఇ ఒక Noun గు ం అదన స రం ఇసుం .)

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 If a non‐defining Relative Clause is removed from a sentence, we lose some detail, but the

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overall meaning of the sentence remains the same. (ఒక ళ ఈ Non‐defining Relative Clause

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మనము క ం నుం ల ం నప , క ం క అరం ఎ ం రు ఉండదు.)

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 Non‐defining Relative Clauses are always set off from the rest of the sentence with commas or
parentheses.(ఈ Clauses comma parenthesis ఉప ం క ం నుం రు పరు ము.)

 ఈ ం మూడు ఉ హరణలను గమ ంచగలరు.

i. My brother, who is a doctor, lives abroad.

(ఇందు Relative Clause "who is a doctor" Noun గు ంచ ఉప ంచడం దు. ఇ My brother

అ noun గు ం అదన స రం ఇసుం . బ Non‐defining Relative Clauses అం ము.
Commas రు ప ము.)

ii. Vijay, who answered the phone, spoke politely.

(Here the Relative Clause ‘who answered the phone’ is non‐defining because it is not required for the
identification of the speaker who has already been identified as Vijay.)

iii. Delhi, which is the capital of India, is a big city.