Relative clauses

Relative clauses

What are they?

How do we define them?

Are they useful?

What are they?

Relative clauses add information after nouns. Different relative pronouns are used depending on the nouns being qualified or on the information that follows. 

Multiple Choice

Relative clauses...

• add information before nouns

• simplify information about the subjects

• add information after nouns

Some relative clauses.....

• Explain exactly what the thing or person is ------> defining

• Some just add extra information that may be of interest----->non-defining

Poll

Some clauses just add extra information that may be of interest.

• relative clauses

• non-defining

• defining

Poll

Some relative clauses explain exactly what the thing or person is

• relative clause

• defining

• non-defining

Defining- subject

• Tell which noun we are talking about.

• Commas are not used. We can't drop them

• Ex: I hang out with the kids who live next door.

• If I don't say 'who live next door', then we don't know which kids I mean

• The house that belongs to Adam is in London

Open Ended

Write one sentence with a defining clause - noun

Defining - object

• Tell which object we are talking about

• Commas are not used. We can drop them

• Ex: I love the chocolate bar which I bought the other day.

• If I don't say 'which I bought the other day', then we don't know which chocolate I refer to.

• The university I want to attend is well-known.

Open Ended

Write one sentence with a defining clause - object

Non-defining clauses

• The clause is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

• 'That' isn't used as a relative pronoun.

• The relative pronoun is never left out.

• Ex: my boss, who is kind, lives in Boston

• Ex: I really like the new Italian restaurant, which we went to last night.

Open Ended

Write one sentence with a non-defining clause.