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.
Hai,
I am bit confused about the tense that we should use in the relative clause. When i am talking about past ,which one in the below is correct?
Finding a pair of shoes that go well with the frock was hard.
Or
Finding a pair of shoes that went well with the frock was hard.
Hello FathimaFrk,
Both 'go' and 'went' can be correct here.
When you say this, if you are thinking more of all the time you spent that day looking for the shoes, i.e. more about the past, then 'went' is the more appropriate choice. The past tense form draws attention to the past action.
But if you are thinking more about the frock and how unusual it is in general, then 'go' is more appropriate. The present tense draws more attention to the frock.
We often use the present tense when talking about general truths, for example, the sun rises in the morning, ice is cold, etc. In this case, we'd be saying that it's difficult to find accessories to match the frock.
Does that make sense?
Best wishes,
Kirk
LearnEnglish team
Hi there 🙋🏻♂️
I have a question that has been occupying my mind for some time now. Is the sentence below grammatically correct?
“ The research was carried out so as to encourage more research on a topic which the researchers feel needs to be studied in more depth.”
I didin’t get the part which goes like …which the researchers feel needs to be studied. How can we use feel and needs one after another. I would be so glad if you could reply with an answer. Thanks in advance 🙏
Hello ahmethoca,
The sentence is correct. The phrase 'the researchers feel' adds an extra layer to the sentence. If we remove it then we get this:
...a topic which needs to be studied in more depth.
Once you see this I think it's easy to understand the addition of 'the researchers feel'. You could add similar phrases such as 'I believe', 'people have always thought', 'it turned out', 'no-one doubts' and so on.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello everyone,
I have a question about defining relative clauses. In the student's book my daughter study, there are two sentences:
1. The book which/ that I read was very interesting.
2. The play (that/ which) we saw was great.
The explanation for the first sentence is: Defining relative clauses give information that is essential to the meaning of the main clause so we cannot omit them.
For the second sentence it is said that we can only omit the relative pronoun when it refers to the object of the main verb.
I am not an expert that's why I see no difference in the two sentences - I can omit that/ which in both without changing the meaning of each sentence.
Please, advice :)
Thank you in advance,
Ani
Hi Just_An,
You are right, "that/which" can be omitted in both of these sentences.
I can't be sure without seeing the book, but it seems the first sentence is not talking about omitting the relative pronoun only, but about omitting the whole relative clause "which/that I read". It is emphasising that the whole clause "which/that I read" is inseparable from "The book".
Jonathan
LearnEnglish team
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