RELATIVE CLAUSES

Relative clauses
• We use a relative pronoun in order to
connect two sentences which have the
same pronoun.
• Ali goes to school. The school is far away.
• Ali goes to school which is far away.

Relative
pronoun
Examples
• That is the man. He is teaching Maths at the school.
• That is the man who is teaching Maths at the school.
• ( WHO is used for human beings. He, She, they, etc. )

• I can’t find my jacket. It is yellow.

• I can’t find my jacket which is yellow.
• ( WHICH is used for things & animals.  It, they )

• Let’s go to a restaurant. We can have pizza there.

• Let’s go to a restaurant where we can have pizza.
• ( WHERE is used for places.  there, here, in that place, etc. )
Examples
• Do you know the girl. Her hair is red.
• Do you know the girl whose hair is red.
• ( WHOSE is used for possessive adjectives.  his, her, its, their, etc. )
• ( After WHOSE, there comes a noun.)

• I will never forget the day. I met you on that day.

• I will never forget the day when I met you.
• ( WHEN is used for time expressions.  that day, today, next week, last
month,etc.)
Where or which?
• Do you know the park? It has a fountain.
• Do you know the park which has a fountain?

• Do you know the park? I’d like to see it.

• Do you know the park which I’d like to see?

• Do you know the park? I can find a fountain in that place / there.
• Do you know the park where I can find a fountain?

• Do you know the place? They let me cook some fish at that place / there
• Do you know the place where they let me cook some fish?
Use of “that”
• Instead of using “who” and “which” we can use
“that”. ( only for who and which and in defining relative clauses)
• I live in Afyon. It is a large city.
• I live in Afyon which is a large city.
• I live in Afyon that is a large city.

• I hate people. They are dishonest.

• I hate people who are dishonest.
• I hate people that are dishonest.
OMISSION of the relative pronoun
• We can omit the relative pronoun if it is
followed by a pronoun or noun.
• The book was interesting. I bought it.
• The book which I bought was interesting.
• The book I bought was interesting.

• I love books. They are interesting.

• I love books which are interesting. ( we can’t omit which)