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.

                           

Examples:

• The movie which/that we saw last week was directed by martin Scorsese.
• The director who/that won the award wasn´t at the ceremony.
• We stayed in the place where we had our honeymoon.

 

Practice 

 Write some sentences using the defining relative clauses.

• They’re the people who/that she met at Jon’s party. 
• Here are some cells which/that the researcher has identified. 
• 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.

 

Video related to the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un-JNzrxe0E