Defining and Non-Defining

Relative Clauses

Student: Torres Gómez Martha Edith

5”O”
Teacher: Dra. Daniela Dueñas Aparicio
 What are relative clauses?

Relative clauses are clauses starting with relative pronouns. We

can use relative clauses to identify people, describe things and
add comments.
 Where and why do we use them?
• Where do we use them?
After a noun

• Why do we use them?

To make it clear which person or
thing we are talking about
Which relative pronoun must we use?
I. For people: who, that, whose, whom
Example: The man who/that lent me the book.

II. For objects: which, that, whose

Example: The book which/ that I borrow

III. For places, times, and reasons: Where, when, why, that
Example: The library where we met.
 Defining relative clauses
A defining clause or identifying clause tells us which specific
person or thing we are talking about in a larger group of people
or things.
Look at this sentences:
1. The woman who lives next door works in a bank.

Some more examples:

• The film that we saw last week was awful.
• This is the skirt I bought in the sales.
 Can we drop the relative pronoun?
• You can drop “who”, “whom”, “that” and “which” if the
information is related to the object of the sentence, but not
when it is related to the subject.

This is the dress which I bought in the sales.

This is the dress I bought in the sales.
• Note that if the relative pronoun is the subject of the verb then
it cannot be omitted:
This is the dog which bit my brother.
BUT NOT:
This is the dog bit my brother.

• We cannot drop: “whose” and “where”:

The man whose book I borrowed.
The library where I met him.
 Non-Defining relative clauses
• A non-defining relative clause gives us additional information
about the person or the thing. In written English, there is always
a comma before a non- defining relative clause.

• We do not use 'that' in non-defining relative clauses, so we

need to use 'which' if the pronoun refers to a thing, and 'who' if
it refers to a person.

Example: My sister, who I live with, knows a lot about cars.

• We can't drop the relative pronoun in this kind of clause.

Examples:
(Clause comes after the subject)
• My boss, who is very nice, lives in Manchester.
• My mother's house, which I grew up in, is very small.

(Clause comes after the object)

• Yesterday I called our friend Julie, who lives in New York.
• The photographer called to the Queen, who looked annoyed.
Review
 References
• https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-clauses.html

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLkARyk4CTI

• http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/rules/relative.htm

• https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/intermediate-
grammar/relative-clauses-defining-relative-clauses