Relative clauses: defining relative clauses

Relative clauses: defining relative clauses

Do you know how to define who or what you are talking about using relative clauses? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

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.

Grammar test 1

Grammar B1-B2: Relative clauses – defining relative clauses: 1

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.

Grammar test 2

Grammar B1-B2: Relative clauses – defining relative clauses: 2

Language level

Average: 4.2 (74 votes)
Do you need to improve your English grammar?
Join thousands of learners from around the world who are improving their English grammar with our online courses.

Hello Reemtb,

In a context where it's clear what she is honoured for, yes, that looks correct to me.

All the best,

Kirk

The LearnEnglish Team

Profile picture for user Karan Narang

Submitted by Karan Narang on Mon, 27/07/2020 - 15:27

Permalink
Could you explain it for me. The assistant that we met was really kind. And 2nd The assistant that helped us was really kind. Now I have got doubt with both sentence, In both sentence used 2nd form of verb is met or helped after ward put was. why did put was, it difficult to understand for me because already have used past form then why did need to put "was" these sentence. Could you more specific with these sentence ?
Hi Karan Narang, I'll try to explain. The sentence structure is: - X was really kind. X is the subject, and 'was' is the verb. X can be just a noun (e.g. 'The assistant'). But in your examples, there are relative clauses too ('The assistant that we met' and 'The assistant that helped us'). These have verbs in them ('met' and 'helped'), but the verbs are just adding some description to the subject. They are a part of the subject (i.e. part of a noun phrase). They aren't the main verb in the sentence. That's why 'was' is needed. Otherwise, the sentences don't have a main verb. 'Was' is in the past simple because it refers to the same time as meeting the assistant or helping us. Both of these were in the past simple in your examples. Does that make sense? Jonathan The LearnEnglish Team
Profile picture for user Rafaela1

Submitted by Rafaela1 on Thu, 18/06/2020 - 14:02

Permalink
Thank you for the grammar explanation!

Submitted by NoobsDeath on Wed, 17/06/2020 - 17:03

Permalink
Hi, hope you can explain to me these questions: Why can the word"that" in a sentence replace all the relative pronoun? Just like this: It is June that we got married. 2. Could you give me some feedback for the essay I wrote on the link below? Just consider the type of graph and the figures right: xxxxxxxxxxx But if there is so much inability, just tell me. But if you could, please do it. 3. For the last question, this one could be very confusing to you but I still ask: Is the sentence below incorrect and why? ( because I think the form "going" can be " who are going" while it is possible to say we who are) We going there right now.

Hello NoobsDeath,

I'm not sure why a language works in the way it does is a question that has an answer. Languages evolve and develop their rules and systems over time; there is no planned purpose which would imply a reason for a particular rule. It is as it is, simply.

Note that we can use that to replace the relative pronouns which and who, not whose and not the relative adverbs where and when. We also do not use that in non-defining relative clauses.

 

I'm afraid we don't offer a proofreading or correction service on LearnEnglish. We're a small team and it's just not possible for us to do this. We focus on explaining difficult areas of English and offering advice to learners.

 

The sentence you quote in your third question is incorrect. You need to include the auxiliary verb be when forming the present continuous and not only use the -ing form:

We are going there right now.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

About your third question. Even if 'We going there right now' was used as a noun phrase, it's still incorrect. Because the 'we' are definite, meaning it can't be restricted in any ways. So, you have to use the unrestrictive usage of a relative clause. And in addition, personal pronouns can't be restricted, so there can't be any modifiers in the back of them. (Helping you as a neighbor country citizen. I hope the relationship between South Korea and Japan gets better. It's detrimental to both of us.)

Submitted by Lal on Tue, 16/06/2020 - 09:07

Permalink
Hello Sir This is the video that I wanted to show you. In the above sentence can I use 'which' instead of 'that' Please let me know Thank you. Regards Lal

Hello Lal,

Yes, both which and that are possible here. It's also possible to omit the relative pronoun entirely.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team