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.
Dear Teacher,
I often come across sentences using the structure " with + Noun+V-ing" to add more information as the below example, I think they are reduced relative clause, but I'm not sure, could you help explain if my understanding is correct ?. Thank you very much.
"The process continues with the tadpoles growing into young frogs, which still dispay their tail section"
I think it is reduced from: .....The process continues with the tadpoles which grow into young frogs, which still dispay their tail section.
However, 2 " which" makes me think that it is not correct.
Hello le thu huong,
The construction here is a prepositional phrase headed by the preposition 'with'. Inside the phrase you have a participle phrase using a noun + -ing.
You can read more about participle phrases here:
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/c1-grammar/participle-clauses
You can read some comments on this particular construction here:
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/310578/what-is-the-grammatical-term-for-with-n-present-participle
https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/176583/the-meaning-of-with-noun-participle-phrase
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Sir,
Can we combine two defining relative clause as mentioned below?
For people who enjoy reading while traveling and who want to access multiple books, e-book reader is a perfect option.
Is there any particular rule that we should follow when combining them?
Thank you
Hello FathimaFrk,
Yes, you can do that. Your sentence is fine apart from lacking an article: an e-book reader is...
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
when i reach the question about the passengers _____flight has been canceled and got a refund I can't go to the next page please fix this
Hello yousifzz._.,
That question is the last question in the task. The reason it says there are items remaining is that you can choose more than one answer for each question. For example, for some questions both 'which' and 'that' are possible, so you should choose both answers and not only one. As the rubric for the task says: "Choose all the correct options".
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear, here is one more question: when we use “which” instead of “why”, do we use both “in/on/at which” and “which…..in/on/at” Many thanks.
Hello KatherineThu,
You can replace the relative adverbs why, where and when with which and a pronoun. The pronoun depends on the original sentence and, yes, it can be before the relative pronoun or at the end of the clause:
I visited the house where she lives > I visited the house in which she lives / I visited the house which she lives in
We met on the day when I graduated > We met on the day on which I graduated > We met on the day which I graduated on
That's the reason why she did it > That's the reason for which she did it > That's the reason which she did it for
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear,
Need I change “a” into “the” in a relative clause?
They ate at a restaurant. It serves only vegan dishes=> They ate at a restaurant which serves only vegan dishes.
or
They ate at a restaurant which serves only vegan dishes.
Many thanks 💌
Hello KatherineThu,
Your sentences are identical! I presume you meant to change 'a restaurant' to 'the restaurant'.
There is no need to change the article in the relative clause. You would only use 'the' if both the speaker and the listener know which restaurant you mean, which is clearly not the case here as it is the first time the speaker is referencing it.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team