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19. Relative Clauses

Relative Pronouns - Relative Clauses

Relative pronouns (who, which, whose, that) introduce relative clauses. A relative clause tells us which person or thing the speaker means.

The woman who works with me is an American.

relative clause ↑

(The relative clause identifies which woman the speaker is talking about.)

  • We use who/that to refer to people.

We use which/that to refer to objects or animals.

  • Who/Which/That cannot be omitted if it is the subject of the relative clause; that is, when there is no noun or subject pronoun between the relative pronoun and the verb.

I know a girl. She has four dogs.

1 know a girl who/that has four dogs.

(The relative pronoun is the subject, we can’t omit it.)

The house burned down. It is theirs.

The house which/that burned down is theirs.

  • Who/Which/That can be omitted when it is the object of the relative clause; that is, when there is a noun or subject pronoun between the relative pronoun and the verb. We can use whom instead of who when it is the object of the relative clause.

Whom is not often used in everyday English.

We hired a woman. John had interviewed her.

We hired a woman (whom/who/that) John had interviewed.

(The relative pronoun is the object; we can’t omit it.)

That’s the bicycle. I bought it last week. That’s the bicycle (which/that) I bought last week.

We use whose instead of possessive adjectives (my, your, his, etc) with people, objects and animals to show possession.

That’s the little girl - her dress is dirty. That’s the little girl whose dress is dirty.

That’s the book - its cover is torn.

That’s the book whose cover is torn.

We only use prepositions before relative pronouns in formal written English.

The vase in which I put the flowers is cracked, (formal English)

The vase which/that I put the flowers in is cracked, (usual structure)

The vase I put the flowers in is cracked, (everyday English)

A relative pronoun is not used with another pronoun (I, you, me, him, etc).

I know a boy who rides a motorbike. (NOT: I know a boy who he rides a motorbike.)

NOTE: who’s = who is or who has whose: (possessive)

Who’s (Who is) in the comer?’ ‘It’s Tom.’ ‘Who’s (Who has) got the money?’ ‘Kate’. Sam is the man whose wife is a lawyer.

who/that

(people)

subject - cannot be omitted

who/whom/that

(people)

object - can be omitted

which/that

(objects, animals)

subject - cannot be omitted object - can be omitted

whose

(people, objects, animals)

possession - cannot be omitted

Relative Adverbs

Where, when and why are relative adverbs and introduce relative clauses.

  • Where is used to refer to place, usually after nouns like place, house, street, town and country. It can be replaced by that/which + preposition and, in this case, which/that can be omitted.

The house where I used to live has collapsed.

The house (which/that) 1 used to live in has collapsed.

  • When is used to refer to time, usually after nouns like time, period, moment, day etc. It can either be replaced by that or can be omitted.

She’ll never forget the moment when she graduated.

She’ll never forget the moment (that) she graduated.

  • Why is used to give reason, usually after the word reason. It can be replaced either by that or can be omitted.

Do you know the reason why he failed the exam?

Do you know the reason (that) he failed the exam?