Defining relative clauses Form: Do not need commas to separate them from the rest of the sentence. Come after the noun they refer to. Can use which/that to refer to things. Can use who/that to refer to people. Can use where to refer to places. Function: A defining relative clause gives us extra information about a noun. It cannot be removed from the sentence without affecting the basic meaning. 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 .
