Defining Relative Clauses

We use Defining and Non-defining relative clauses to give additional information

about something without starting another sentence. By combining sentences with a
relative clause you can avoid repeating certain words.

How to Form Defining Relative Clauses

Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend if he
knows her. You could say:

A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?

That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative clause:
you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the most important
thing – you want to know who the girl is.

Do you know the girl…

Because your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in
the additional information – the girl is talking to Tom. Use “the girl” only in the first
part of the sentence, in the second part replace it with the relative pronoun (for
people, use the relative pronoun who). So the final sentence is:

Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

Relative Pronouns and their uses

who – used for people

ex: The man who lives next door is 100 years old.

which – used for things and animals

ex: This is the room which he sleeps in.
ex: Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?

that - used for people, things, and animals (who and which can be
replaced by that, which we use commonly in spoken English)
ex: I met the man that lives downstairs. (or who)
ex: I like the car that he drives. (or which)
ex: This is the dog that we found on the street. (or which)
whose – used for possessions of people, animals
ex: I met a woman whose brother knows you.
ex: Where is the elephant whose leg is broken?

where – used for places

ex: This is the store where I bought the book.
That is the city where she was born.

what – used instead of a noun

ex: I don’t know what I want to eat.
That is what I’ve been trying to tell you.
This is what he likes.
We can’t remember what he told us.

when – used for time

ex: That is when I finished university.
They fell in love when they first met.

**When the relative pronoun is the object of the clause, it can be left out.

ex: The book that I was reading was very interesting, or

The book which I was reading was very interesting, or
The book I was reading was very interesting

All of these sentences are possible and correct.

Important: The best way to know which pronoun to use is to look at the noun before
it. For example “This is the car that I drove to Paris.” The noun before “that” is “car”,
which is a thing, so we know we can use the pronouns “that” or “which”. In the
sentence “I know a woman who is a doctor.” The noun “woman” is a person, so we
know we can use “who” or “that” after it. When we use the pronoun “what”, there is
no noun before it. Take a look at the examples of “what” above (remember that “this”
and “that” are not nouns.)