Relative clauses New-Headway (4th edition) Upper-intermediate

Defining Relative Clause

1. The people who live across the road are friendly.
(Defining R.C / info is important) (The relative pronoun “that” can used to
replace with who or which in defining relative clause)
2. The people are friendly. (Not clear) >> (The people means all the people or
which people?)

Non-defining Relative Clause

a. My next-door neighbour, who has a nice car, is friendly.

(Extra info are not essential/ you can omit as you want, but the meaning
doesn’t change) (The relaive pronoun “That” can’t be replaced for who or
which.) (Don’t forget, ……., when writing non-defining relative clause.)

b. My next-door neighbour is friendly.

(Though you remove relative clause, the meaning is still clear)

Leaving out the pronoun

**You can leave out the relative pronoun if it is the object of a defining
relative clause.
e.g., The university which I went to was one of the best in Europe.

(Although not grammatically wrong, it doesn’t sound as natural as

“The university I went to …………)

**In non-defining relative clause, you can’t leave out the pronoun.

Participles
Present and past participles are used as reduced relative clause.

1. The woman standing next to him is his wife.

The woman who is standing next to …….

2. Most houses built in the 16th century are listed buildings.

Most houses which were built …….. are listed buildings.