Form - Summary

Example
That's a table I borrowed from my mum.
The person interested in renting the spare room will phone back later.
The coat by the door is Dave's.
Example
Hi! Are you the family who's just moved into the flat next door? - or -  Hi!  Are you the family that's
just moved into the flat next door?
"who" / "that" describes "the family"  the subject of the sentence.
Relative clauses | Form
Relative clauses must include the relative pronoun, when it describes the subject (not always) of
the sentence (see the example above).
In the following situations you can choose whether to add the relative pronoun. You do not have
to include it.
When relative pronouns are optional
Situation Example
That's a table which I borrowed from my mum.
The relative pronoun describes the object of the verb.
That's a table I borrowed from my mum.
The person who's interested in renting the spare room will phone back later.
The relative clause contains the verb 'be' + an adjective
phrase
The person interested in renting the spare room will phone back later.
The coat which is by the door is Dave's.
The relative clause contains the verb 'be' + a prepositional
phrase
The coat by the door is Dave's.
Important
Where should prepositions go?
Look at the following sentences.  Are they grammatically correct?
The family with whom I stayed were lovely.
The house in which I lived as a child was very old.
Yes, they are grammatically correct, however they sound quite old fashioned.  It would be more
natural to say them like this:
The family I stayed with were lovely.
The house I lived in as a child was very old.
What's different?  We remove the pronoun and put the preposition after the verb.  This is different
to a lot of other languages, but doing so will help you sound more natural.