Relative pronouns. Defining and non-defining relative clauses.

The relative pronouns are:

Subject	Object	Possessive
who	who(m)	whose
which	which	whose
that	that

We use who and whom for people, and which for things.
Or we can use that for people or things.

We use relative pronouns:

• after a noun, to make it clear which person or thing we are talking about:

the house that Jack built
the woman who discovered radium
an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop

• to tell us more about a person or thing:

My mother, who was born overseas, has always been a great traveller.
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
We had fish and chips, which is my favourite meal.

But we do not use that as a subject in this kind of relative clause.

We use whose as the possessive form of who:

This is George, whose brother went to school with me.

We sometimes use whom as the object of a verb or preposition:

This is George, whom you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, with whom I went to school.

But nowadays we normally use who:

This is George, who you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, who I went to school with.

When whom or which have a preposition the preposition can come at the beginning of the clause...

I had an uncle in Germany, from who[m] I inherited a bit of money.
We bought a chainsaw, with which we cut up all the wood.

… or at the end of the clause:

I had an uncle in Germany who[m] I inherited a bit of money from.
We bought a chainsaw, which we cut all the wood up with.

We can use that at the beginning of the clause:

I had an uncle in Germany that I inherited a bit of money from.
We bought a chainsaw that we cut all the wood up with.

Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses. The most common relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, that. The relative pronoun we use depends on what we are referring to and the type of relative clause.

who	people and sometimes pet animals	defining and non-defining
which	animals and things	defining and non-defining; clause referring to a whole sentence
that	people, animals and things; informal	defining only
whose	possessive meaning; for people and animals usually; sometimes for things in formal situations	defining and non-defining
whom	people in formal styles or in writing; often with a preposition; rarely in conversation; used instead of who if who is the object	defining and non-defining
no relative pronoun	when the relative pronoun defines the object of the clause	defining only

(In the examples, the relative pronoun is in brackets to show where it is not essential; the person or thing being referred to is underlined.)

We don’t know the person who donated this money.

We drove past my old school, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

He went to the school (that) my father went to.

The Kingfisher group, whose name was changed from Woolworths earlier this year, includes about 720 high street shops. Superdrug, which last week announced that it is buying Medicare, is also part of the group.

The parents (whom/who/that) we interviewed were all involved in education in some way.

Defining relative clauses

We use defining relative clauses to give essential information about someone or something – information that we need in order to understand what or who is being referred to. A defining relative clause usually comes immediately after the noun it describes.

We usually use a relative pronoun (e.g. who, that, which, whose and whom) to introduce a defining relative clause (In the examples, the relative clause is in bold, and the person or thing being referred to is underlined.):

They’re the people who want to buy our house.

Here are some cells which have been affected.

They should give the money to somebody who they think needs the treatment most.

[talking about an actress]

She’s now playing a woman whose son was killed in the First World War.

Warning:

In writing, we don’t use commas in defining relative clauses:

This is a man who takes his responsibilities seriously.

Non-defining relative clauses

We use non-defining relative clauses to give extra information about the person or thing. It is not necessary information. We don’t need it to understand who or what is being referred to.

We always use a relative pronoun (who, which, whose or whom) to introduce a non-defining relative clause (In the examples, the relative clause is in bold, and the person or thing being referred to is underlined.)

Clare, who I work with, is doing the London marathon this year.

Not: Clare, I work with, is doing the London marathon this year.

Doctors use the testing kit for regular screening for lung and stomach cancers, which account for 70% of cancers treated in the western world.

Alice, who has worked in Brussels and London ever since leaving Edinburgh, will be starting a teaching course in the autumn.

Warning:

We don’t use that to introduce a non-defining relative clause:

Allen, who scored three goals in the first game, was the only player to perform well.

Not: Allen, that scored three goals in the first game, was the only player to perform well.

Punctuation

In writing, we use commas around non-defining relative clauses:

Etheridge, who is English-born with Irish parents, replaces Neil Francis, whose injury forced him to withdraw last week.


Now, have a look at the following videos with a very good explanation:

Relative Clauses

Non-defining vs defining relative clauses

Using Relative Clauses