We use relative clauses to give additional information about something without starting another sentence. By combining sentences with a relative clause, your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid repeating certain words.
How to Form Relative Clauses
Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether he knows her. You could say:
A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?
That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative clause: you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the most important thing – you want to know who the girl is.
Do you know the girl …
As your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in the additional information – the girl is talking to Tom. Use „the girl“ only in the first part of the sentence, in the second part replace it with the relative pronoun (for people, use the relative pronoun „who“). So the final sentence is:
Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?
Relative Pronouns
relative pronoun
use
example
who
subject or object pronoun for people
I told you about the womanwholives next door.
which
subject or object pronoun for animals and things
Do you see the catwhichis lying on the roof?
which
referring to a whole sentence
He couldn’t readwhichsurprised me.
whose
possession for people animals and things
Do you know the boywhosemother is a nurse?
whom
object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially preferwho)
I was invited by the professorwhomI met at the conference.
that
subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in defining relative clauses (whoorwhichare also possible)
I don’t like the tablethatstands in the kitchen.
Relative Adverbs
A relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition. This often makes the sentence easier to understand.
This is the shop in which I bought my bike. → This is the shop where I bought my bike.