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Relative clauses
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Identifying people and things
- A relative clause can identify or add information about a noun: The woman who lives next door is a doctor. Here who lives next door identifies the woman.
- Outcome: connect a description to the right noun and decide whether the relative word is a subject, object or possessive form.
- Start with basic clause order. Starting check: in the film we watched, who did the watching, and what was watched? We is the subject; the film supplies the object.
The student who borrowed my pen has become its permanent guardian.
who, which, that
- In defining clauses, who refers to people and which to things; that can refer to either: the person who/that called; the book which/that won.
- A clause’s role matters as well as the noun: the town which I visited has an object gap after visited. A place name does not automatically require where.
- In the standard written patterns taught here, the clause follows the noun it modifies. Check what each clause is describing when a sentence contains several nouns.
Choose: The man ___ called you is my uncle.
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Who is the person-reference choice among these options. That can also introduce this defining subject relative, although it is not offered here. Which does not fit the ordinary person-reference pattern.
Translate into English: 住在隔壁的那位女士是医生。
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Person + relative clause: “The woman who lives next door is a doctor.”
where, when, whose
- Where supplies a location relation: the town where I grew up means the town in which I grew up. Compare the object pattern the town which I visited.
- When can supply a time relation: the day when we met. Whose introduces a noun phrase with a possessive relation: the writer whose books I love.
- Whose is not limited to people: a company whose offices are nearby is possible. Read the words after the gap before choosing a relative word.
Which relative pronoun?
Choose among the four offered relative words by reading the gap’s role, not only the preceding noun. Other forms such as that may work when offered.
Complete: That's the girl ___ bag was stolen. (belonging)
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Belonging → whose: “the girl whose bag …”.
When omission works
- In a defining clause, an object relative word can often be omitted: The film (that) we saw was great. The clause already has a subject, we.
- Keep a subject relative word: the man who called. Removing who does not give the intended full relative clause.
- Do not extend this to every relative: My phone, which I bought yesterday, broke needs its relative word in the non-defining clause. A fronted preposition also needs its relative form: the person to whom I spoke; compare the person I spoke to.
Can we drop “that” here? “The film (that) we saw was great.”
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Yes: this is a defining object relative, with we as its subject. Contrast the subject relative “the film that won”, where that is needed, and a non-defining clause, where the relative word cannot be omitted.
Repair the gap
- For the man who called, use who or that, not which, in this ordinary person-reference pattern.
- Standard written English does not normally use what after an explicit noun in the book what I read. Use the book that I read. But what I read was surprising is grammatical: what I read means the thing(s) that I read, without an earlier noun.
- The friend who I met him repeats the object; use the friend who I met. This diagnoses the English clause, not a presumed habit shared by all Chinese speakers.
Match each broad label to one possible relative word illustrated in this lesson. These labels are memory cues, not a rule choosing a word from the noun alone: compare the town where I lived with the town which I visited.
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Who/which can refer to a person/thing, while where/when supply location/time relations. A place or date can instead be the object of a verb and take which/that or omission in a defining clause. Examine the gap, not only the noun.
Is this correct? “That's the town where I grew up.”
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Yes: where supplies the location relation, as in “the town in which I grew up”. Compare “the town which I visited”, where the town is the direct object of visited.
- Find the noun, then ask what role is missing inside the clause. A place can be an object or a location; the choices differ.
- Omit an object relative only in a pattern that permits omission, not in a non-defining clause or after a fronted preposition.
- Later recall: describe a new place once as something you visited and once as the location of an event. Explain your two relative-word choices. Continue with defining and non-defining clauses to examine how punctuation changes the information presented.
Usage checked 2026-10-20: Cambridge, relative pronouns. Local source checks; independent language, answer and learner review pending.
Describe a person or thing in one sentence, using a relative clause (who / which / that).
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Example: “I have a friend who speaks four languages.”
A guide writes: “The village which we visited is beside the river.” Which explanation correctly describes which in this sentence?
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We visited the village: the village fills the object role. Where would supply a location relation and does not directly replace that object in we visited. If you chose from the noun’s place meaning alone, rebuild the simple clause first, identify its subject/object and then revisit the gap.
Invent a short English message about a library. In one sentence, identify it as the library you visited yesterday. In a second, describe a room there where a club meets. Use a relative clause in each sentence; revise one gap or repeated pronoun after comparing. You may choose natural wording rather than copying the model.
Compare the intended meaning and the relevant clause/form choices. Revise one supported issue; this local self-review does not award correctness or proficiency.