Relative clauses
Adding extra information
- A relative clause gives more information about a noun.
- The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
- It comes right after the noun it describes.
who, which, that
- who for people: the man who called.
- which for things: the book which won.
- that works for both, and is common in speech.
Choose: The man ___ called you is my uncle.
“The man” is a person → who.
Translate into English: 住在隔壁的那位女士是医生。
Person + relative clause: “The woman who lives next door is a doctor.”
where, when, whose
- where for places: the town where I grew up.
- when for times: the day when we met.
- whose for belonging: the writer whose books I love.
Which relative pronoun?
who = people, which = things, where = places, whose = belonging.
Complete: That's the girl ___ bag was stolen. (belonging)
Belonging → whose: “the girl whose bag …”.
Leaving out the pronoun
- When the pronoun is the object, you can drop it.
- The film (that) we saw was great.
- But keep it when it's the subject: the man who called.
Can we drop “that” here? “The film (that) we saw was great.”
Yes — “that” is the object here (we saw it), so it can be left out.
Common mistakes
- ❌ The man which called… → ✓ The man who called… — people take who.
- ❌ The book what I read… → ✓ The book that I read… — what is never a relative pronoun.
- ❌ The friend who I met him… → ✓ The friend who I met… — drop the extra him.
Match the noun to its relative word.
who for people, which for things, where for places, when for times — that covers people and things.
Is this correct? “That's the town where I grew up.”
Yes — where replaces in the town, so no extra preposition is needed.
- who (people), which (things), that (both).
- where / when / whose for place / time / belonging.
- Drop the pronoun when it's the object, keep it when it's the subject.
Describe a person or thing in one sentence, using a relative clause (who / which / that).
Example: “I have a friend who speaks four languages.”