Look at these examples to see how defining relative clauses are used.
Are you the one who sent me the email?
The phone which has the most features is also the most expensive.
This is the video that I wanted to show you.
The person they spoke to was really helpful.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Relative clauses give us information about the person or thing mentioned.
Defining relative clauses give us essential information – information that tells us who or what we are talking about.
The woman who lives next door works in a bank.
These are the flights that have been cancelled.
We usually use a relative pronoun or adverb to start a defining relative clause: who, which, that, when, where or whose.
who/that
We can use who or that to talk about people. that is more common and a bit more informal.
She's the woman who cuts my hair.
He's the man that I met at the conference.
which/that
We can use which or that to talk about things. that is more common and a bit more informal.
There was a one-year guarantee which came with the TV.
The laptop that I bought last week has started making a strange noise!
Other pronouns
when can refer to a time.
Summer is the season when I'm happiest.
where can refer to a place.
That's the stadium where Real Madrid play.
whose refers to the person that something belongs to.
He's a musician whose albums have sold millions.
Omitting the relative pronoun
Sometimes we can leave out the relative pronoun. For example, we can usually leave out who, which or that if it is followed by a subject.
The assistant [that] we met was really kind.
(we = subject, can omit that)
We can't usually leave it out if it is followed by a verb.
The assistant that helped us was really kind.
(helped = verb, can't omit that)
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
Thank you very much, Jonathan!
Yes, indeed, You are right!
As I read it again later on today, it says: "Defining relative clauses give information that is essential to the meaning of the main clause so we cannot omit them."
So, it is for the whole clause "which/ that I read"...
Thanks once again and all the best!
Ani
Hi everyone
just something that has been bugging me about defining and non-defining clauses.
I had the following sentences, which gave me a bit of grief, to explain to students.
My view on number 1 is that the relative clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence. Without it we would not know which library we are talking about however the students were saying that they would understand because it was in bad condition so they would know.
The second one surely should have been non-defining because the relative clause adds extra information which is not needed. So, I was thinking it's a mistake in the book!
Please let me know your thoughts.
Thank you in advance,
Effie
Hello Effie,
I agree with you. Unless the speaker of the second sentence has two or more gardens and is identifying which garden they are talking about (the garden I love very much, not the garden I'm not so keen on) I would say that this is clearly a non-defining relative clause.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you Peter
Hello, I have a question about the difference between ""which" and" where".
Eg:- I know a great little restaurant .... we can get lunch
- Jane can not remember the name of the restaurant.... she ate her favorite roasted duck.
Why we use " Which" instead of "where". Thank you in advance!
Hi thebaongoc,
Good question! Let's compare some examples.
Using "where" adds a new subject (in capital letters, below), which does a new action (e.g. "we can get lunch"). The action happens in the previously mentioned noun ("a great little restaurant").
Using "which" adds further information about the previously mentioned noun, "a great little restaurant".
Note that these are not actions by somebody/something IN the restaurant. These are extra information ABOUT the restaurant itself.
People sometimes think that places always use "where" but, as you can see, this isn't true. It depends on whether you want to describe more about the place itself (using "which"), or show an action by somebody/something else that happens in that place (using "where").
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
I have a question relating to this topic. Please help!
Which of these is correct? Combine 2 sentences into one using Relative Clause
1. The professor works in my university. She is from German.
-> (a) The professor who works in my university is from German.
-> (b) The professor who is from German works in my university.
(a) or (b) is correct? It really confuses me. I don't know which clause should go first, especially when the "The professor" and "She" are both subjects of the sentences.
Hello Annie293,
First of all it should be 'from Germany' not 'from German' - 'Germany' is the name of the country, while 'German' is the adjective. We would also say 'at the university' rather than 'in...'
Other that that, both sentences are grammatically correct in terms of structure. However, I think the first one (a) is better. The reason is that defining relative clauses (which you have here) serve to identify the thing you are talking about so that new information can be provided. For example:
Here the relative clause 'who lives next door' identifies the man. It represents shared knowledge - something you already know - so that you can tell which man I am talking about. The main clause gives you new information - something you did not know. We can apply this to your example and ask which piece of information is probably known and which is new. The most likely answer is that you know the professor works at your university but you did not know that he/she is from Germany. Therefore the first sentence (a) is most likely.
The second sentence (b) would be used if, for example, you had a group of professors from different countries and you wanted to say which of the professors you are talking about. Not a very likely situation, I think.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello,
Could you please explain to me why we have "have sold" instead of "have been sold" in the sentence "He's a musician whose albums have sold millions.
Thank you in advance!
Hello kate_d,
'sell' is a verb that can be used ergatively, which basically means that when it is used intransitively, it has a passive meaning. You can read more about this and see a list of other similar verbs on our Ergative verbs page.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask us on that page.
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team