Look at these examples to see how defining relative clauses are used.
Are you the one who sent me the email?
The phone which has the most features is also the most expensive.
This is the video that I wanted to show you.
The person they spoke to was really helpful.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Relative clauses give us information about the person or thing mentioned.
Defining relative clauses give us essential information – information that tells us who or what we are talking about.
The woman who lives next door works in a bank.
These are the flights that have been cancelled.
We usually use a relative pronoun or adverb to start a defining relative clause: who, which, that, when, where or whose.
who/that
We can use who or that to talk about people. that is more common and a bit more informal.
She's the woman who cuts my hair.
He's the man that I met at the conference.
which/that
We can use which or that to talk about things. that is more common and a bit more informal.
There was a one-year guarantee which came with the TV.
The laptop that I bought last week has started making a strange noise!
Other pronouns
when can refer to a time.
Summer is the season when I'm happiest.
where can refer to a place.
That's the stadium where Real Madrid play.
whose refers to the person that something belongs to.
He's a musician whose albums have sold millions.
Omitting the relative pronoun
Sometimes we can leave out the relative pronoun. For example, we can usually leave out who, which or that if it is followed by a subject.
The assistant [that] we met was really kind.
(we = subject, can omit that)
We can't usually leave it out if it is followed by a verb.
The assistant that helped us was really kind.
(helped = verb, can't omit that)
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
Hi Jonathan,
Are my following interpretations correct ?
[1] Those parents of the students who are protesting against the school policy are called by the principal (this means the parents who are protesting).
[2] The parents of those students who are protesting against the school policy are called by the principal (this means the students who are protesting).
I'd appreciate your help whether my above interpretations are right.
Best regards,
Hi melvinthio,
Yes, I agree with your interpretations. In [1], it doesn't make sense to say "Those" unless the speaker means that the parents are protesting, and the reverse is true in [2].
However, in my view the part in sentence [1] where it says "the students who are protesting" could easily be misunderstood. Rewording [1] would make the intended meaning clearer, e.g., "The students' parents who are protesting ..." or perhaps simply "Those parents who are protesting ..." (if the rest of the text can make clear that "parents" here refers to the parents of the students in question).
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Good afternoon, I'm struggling with these pair of sentences because I don't understand why we should use which and where respectively:
1. We went to a shop which I never want to go back to.
2. We went to a shop where a latte cost 3 dollars.
I know the difference between each relative but I can't make them fit into these sentences. Thank you in advance!!
Hi Victoria7,
You actually have two different items here. Which (plus who, whose and that) is a relative pronoun. Where (plus why and when) is a relative adverb.
Both relative pronouns and relative adverbs introduce relative clauses, which function like adjectives to add extra information about a noun or noun phrase. However, grammatically they are a little different in terms of how we use them.
Relative pronouns stand for nouns or noun phrases. In your first sentence the relative pronoun 'which' stands for 'a shop'. Just as you need to say 'to a shop' you need to say 'to which', and this is why you have 'to' at the end of that sentence. You could also put the 'to' before the relative pronoun (We went to a shop to which I never want to go back), but this makes the sentence extremely formal.
Relative adverbs give extra information about the noun or noun phrase. There is no need to use 'to' here, just as we don't need to use 'to' when we use 'where'.
You can replace a relative adverb with a relative pronouns plus a preposition (where > to which, in which, at which etc depending on the context; when > during which, before which, after which etc)
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Please help me to answer them.
Underline the noun clause in each sentence. In the space provided, indicate the function of Noun clause (as subject, object, or complement).
1.Where they stay is unknown. __________
2.I don’t have any idea who they really are. _____________
3.The lecturer gave whoever wanted it the paper __________
4.She isn’t much interested in what the class is studying _____________
5.That is what I’m going to say to you__________________
6.What he said to us was crystal clear ______________
7.I don’t know how long it will take to get to you ______________
8.Give whoever suggestions the answer_______________
9.The teacher sent the paper results to whoever was interested ______
This is what I told you about _____
Hi artantiina,
Sorry, we try not to answer questions like this here, because we might be doing students' homework for them! But if you have a more specific question, let us know.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello everyone, Can you help me with this one?
The children are my students. They are playing soccer over there. (Combine the sentences using Relative Clause)
1. The children who/that are playing soccer over there are my students.
2. The children are my students, who are playing soccer ovet there.
3. The children who/that areny students are playing soccer over there.
Which one(s) is/ are correct? Thank you so much!
Sorry about the typos!
Hello Giao Huynh,
I'm afraid we don't generally provide help with answers to questions from other sources. We're happy to explain the rules and tendencies of English but if we start just providing answers to these kinds of questions we'll end up doing users' homework and tests for them, and that's not our role!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter. Thank you so much for your effort to reply to my question. I understand what is implied in your answer. To clarify, I am an English teacher, and the question is included in one of our tests for our/my students. The thing is, there has been debate among us teachers over the answers to the questions. And my side is that:
1. The children who/that are playing soccer over there are my students: CORRECT.
2. The children are my students, who are playing soccer over there: INCORRECT: non-defining relative clause is used to add information to a Noun in a complete clause in terms of grammar and meaning, which this one does not satisfy. Plus, instead of saying this, we had better say: “My students are playing soccer over there.” The students are obviously children.
3. The children that/ who are my students are playing soccer over there: INCORRECT: Anyone’s students can be students, not just my students. Therefore, this defining relative clause in the sentence has no use of defining the noun “the children”. Plus, if there are two clauses in a sentence, one generally (they are my students) and one specifically (they are playing soccer over there) indicates some noun, we’d better use the more specific one (they are playing soccer over there) as the Relative Clause.
From my side, I have just presented what I understand about the use of Relative clause in general, and in this case particularly. The other side, however, concluded that all were correct. Honestly, I came up with seeking for help from your group, a prestigious one, in order to find out the right thing to teach our students. So can you still please help?
Thank you,
Giao