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Relative Clauses and Reduced Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are used to provide additional information about something without starting a new sentence. This makes text more fluent by avoiding repetition. There are different relative pronouns used such as who, which, that, whose depending on if referring to a person, thing, or possessing. Defining relative clauses identify a specific person or thing, while non-defining clauses provide extra information and are set off with commas. Reduced relative clauses replace the relative pronoun with a participle to make the sentence more concise.

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170 views5 pages

Relative Clauses and Reduced Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are used to provide additional information about something without starting a new sentence. This makes text more fluent by avoiding repetition. There are different relative pronouns used such as who, which, that, whose depending on if referring to a person, thing, or possessing. Defining relative clauses identify a specific person or thing, while non-defining clauses provide extra information and are set off with commas. Reduced relative clauses replace the relative pronoun with a participle to make the sentence more concise.

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MARGARITA DE LA PEÑA
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Relative clauses and reduced

relative clauses
We use relative clauses to give additional information about
something without starting another sentence. By combining sentences
with a relative clause, your text becomes more fluent and you can
avoid repeating certain words.

Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether 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 …
As 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
use example
pronoun
who subject or object pronoun for people I told you about the woman who lives
next door.

which subject or object pronoun for animals and things Do you see the cat which is lying on the
roof?

which referring to a whole sentence He couldn’t read, which surprised me.

whose possession for people animals and things Do you know the boy whose mother is a
nurse?

whom object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining I was invited by the professor whom I
relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we met at the conference.
colloquially prefer who)

that subject or object pronoun for people, animals and I don’t like the table that stands in the
things in defining relative clauses (who or which are kitchen.
also possible)
Defining and Non-defining relative clauses

Defining relative clauses (also called identifying relative Non-defining relative clauses (also called non-identifying
clauses or restrictive relative clauses) give detailed information relative clauses or non-restrictive relative clauses) give
defining a general term or expression. Defining relative clauses are additional information on something, but do not define it. Non-
not put in commas. defining relative clauses are put in commas.
 Imagine, Tom is in a room with five girls. One girl is talking to  Imagine, Tom is in a room with only one girl. The two are
Tom and you ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the
relative clause defines which of the five girls you mean. talking to each other and you ask somebody whether he
knows this girl. Here the relative clause is non-defining
 Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom? because in this situation it is obvious which girl you mean.
Defining relative clauses are often used in definitions.  Do you know the girl, who is talking to Tom?
 A seaman is someone who works on a ship.
Note: In non-defining relative clauses, who/which may not be
Object pronouns in defining relative clauses can be dropped. replaced with that.
(Sentences with a relative clause without the relative pronoun are
called Contact Clauses.) Object pronouns in non-defining relative clauses must be used.
 The boy (who/whom) we met yesterday is very nice.  Jim, who/whom we met yesterday, is very nice
Reduced relative clauses

Relative clauses with who, which, that as subject pronoun can be replaced with a participle.


This makes the sentence shorter and easier to understand.
I told you about the woman who lives next door. – I told you about the woman living next
door.
Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof? – Do you see the cat lying on the roof?

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