Relative clauses – defining and non-defining

Relative clauses – defining and non-defining

Exercise 1

Choose the correct option to complete the sentences below.

1Did you really understand whatwhichthat I told you?

2Mr. Dean, whichthatwho had recently been fired, had a long list of misconducts.

3The victims, most of whichwhowhom were adults, are being identified by the US authorities.

4I like the scene whichwherewhat Dorothy meets Scarecrow.

5This is the man whomwhowhich I am in love with.

6I wasn't honest with Kenneth, whichthat- made him furious.

7The chancellor, both of whomboth of whoseboth whose sons were arrested in the corruption operation, resigned yesterday.

8The police searched the vehicle whichwherethat the gun was found.

9The driver, whowhomwhose contract finishes at the end of the season, doesn't want to talk about his future.

10Between 2000 and 2005 she wrote three novels, none whichnone of whicheither of which were published.

 Loading...

 

Defining vs non-defining

There are two types of relative clauses, defining and non-defining. In the grammar chart below, you can see the main differences between them.
 

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are the words that introduce relative clauses. They can act as the subject or the object of the relative clause.
 

 
Note that that can be used in informal English instead of who/whom/which but it is never used after commas, i.e. in non-defining relative clauses, or after prepositions.

• That’s the man who/that offered me the job.
• My mother’s older brother, who/that lives in New York, is coming to visit.
• That’s the house in which/that they lived all their lives.

Which/that vs what

We use which/that as relative pronouns. They refer back to a noun or sentence.

• I gave her the letter which/that I had been keeping since the war. (which/that= the letter)
• He offered to help us, which was a nice gesture. (which= offering to help us)

We don’t use what as a relative pronoun. It cannot be used to refer back to a sentence or noun.

• I gave her the letter what I had been keeping since the war. 
• He offered to help us, what was a nice gesture.

We use what independently to mean ‘the thing/s that’.

• I didn’t like what he did.= I didn’t like the thing/s that he did.
• What I don’t understand is why we are here. (what= the thing that)

Prepositions in relative clauses

When the relative pronoun is the complement of a preposition, we can use the preposition before the relative pronoun or at the end of the relative clause.

Preposition + relative pronoun

It’s not very common to use prepositions before relative pronouns, we just do it in formal language.

• He wrecked the car for which he had paid a fortune.
• He was a man for whom everybody had great respect.  

Note that after a preposition we can only use the pronouns whom or which. We cannot use who or that after a preposition.

We can also use whose after a preposition.

• The team signed then the young Maradona, in whose skills everybody had their hopes.

Preposition at the end of the relative clause

The most common position of the preposition is at the end of the relative clause.

• He wrecked the car for which he had paid a fortune. (formal; not common)
• He wrecked the car (which/that) he had paid a fortune for. (more usual)

Relative adverbs

Relative adverbs introduce relative clauses, just like relative pronouns, but in this case, they are used to introduce information about time (when), place (where), or reason (why).
 

 
Note that we can use a preposition + which instead of a relative adverb, although this structure is more formal and not as common.

• The coach changed the time when the players had to get up. 
• =The coach changed the time at which the players had to get up.
• The bench where they were sitting was dirty.
• =The bench on which they were sitting was dirty.

Quantifier + of which/whom

In non-defining relative clauses (=between commas), we can use of which/whom after a quantifier such as some, any, none, all, both, several, enough, many and few. 

• Their daughters, both of whom are in university, don’t visit them very often. 
• The students, none of whom had failed the exam, were thrilled. 
• Their house was full of cats, most of which had been found in the street. 
• The two rooms, neither of which had windows, were small and dirty. 

We can also use a quantifier + of whose.

• I belong to a reading club, most of whose members are retired teachers. 
• The parents, some of whose children were already grown-ups, marched down the street. 

We are working on this!

We're developing a NEW LEARNING PLATFORM with a subscription plan that includes additional features at an affordable price. One of those features will be PDF downloads.

Learn more!