DEFINING CLAUSES give essential
information about their antecedent and
without them the meaning will be incomplete.
 These never go between commas.
 WHO, WHOM and WHICH can be substituted
by THAT in a more colloquial context.
 WHO, WHOM, WHICH AND THAT can be
omitted if they are the object of the relative
clause, that is, if they are followed by a
sibject.

If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb,
then it can’t be omitted. If the relative is followed
by a subject + verb, then it’s almost sure you can
drop it
Mary is the girl who arrived late at the party.
Mary is the girl who I told you about yesterday.
The book which was on the table was new.
The book which I bought is about music.
NON-DEFINING CLAUSES give extra
information, that is, we could remove it without
changing the meaning of the sentence.
 They are always separated by commas.
 THAT is never used.
 Pronouns can be NEVER omitted.
 The antencedent is usually a proper name of a
person or thing and it contains a possessive like
‘my’, ‘his’, ‘her’, the definite article ‘the’ or
demonstratives like ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ or
‘those’

Mary,who arrived late at the party,is my cousin
Paris, which is the capital of France, is a
beutiful city.
Paul, who I saw at the party, is so handsome.
That car, which she bought last month, is a
Ferrari.
 WHO
 WHOM
 WHICH
 WHOSE
 WHERE
 WHEN
 THAT
It is used to talk about people
 It can be the subject or the object of the
relative clause
 In defining relative clauses it can be always
replaced by THAT. More colloquial.
 In defining relative clauses it can be omitted if it
is the object of the relative clause, that is, if it
is followed by the subject of the relative clause
and, if it does not have a preposition before.

Eg: Mary,who arrived late at the party,is my cousin
 It
is used to talk about people. More formal
than WHO
 It is always the object of the relative clause,
that is, it always has a suject afterwards.
 In defining relative clauses it can be replaced
by THAT.
 In defining relative clauses it can be omitted
if it does not have a preposition before.
Eg: Mary is the girl whom I told you about
yesterday.
It is used to talk about anything but people.
 It can be the subject or the object of the
relative clause
 In defining relative clauses it can be always
replaced by THAT. More colloquial.
 In defining relative clauses it can be omitted if it
is the object of the relative clause, that is, if it
is followed by the subject of the relative clause
and, if it does not have a preposition before.


That car, which she bought last month, is a
Ferrari.
 It
is used to talk about possession.
 It cannot be substituted by any pronouns.
 It cannot be omitted in any case.
 It is always followed by whatever is
possessed.
 Eg:
That is the boy whose mother is a doctor
 It
is used to talk about places when they are
not the subject nor the object of the relative
clause, that is when they are followed by a
subject and they are not an object in the
relative clause.
That is the museum where I went last month
 It
is used to talk about times when they are
not the subject nor the object of the relative
clause, that is when they are followed by a
subject and they are not an object in the
relative clause.
Eg: May is the month when flowers bloom.
 It
only appears in Defing Relative Clauses.
 It may substitute WHO, WHOM and WHICH.
 It can be omitted if it is the object of the
relative clause, that is, if it is followed by
the subject.
Eg: Paul is the man that I like so much.
RELATIVE CLAUSES
DEFINING
PRONOUNS
WHO/WHOM/WHICH
THAT
WHOSE/
WHERE/
WHEN
NON-DEFINING
PRONOUNS
WHO/
WHOM/
WHICH/
WHOSE/
WHERE/
WHEN
1.- Find the common element
The man is very tall. I saw him yesterday.
2.- Cross out the second element.
That man is very tall. I saw him yesterday.
3.- Start copying the first sentence until the
first common element.
4.- Write the relative pronoun:
who
which
whose
That man
5.- Copy the second sentence, except the
element we had crossed out.
I saw yesterday
The man who
6.- If there is anything left from the first
sentence, copy it afterwards.
is very tall.
The man who I saw yesterday
7.- Check if you can write THAT instead of
WHO, WHOM, WHICH
The man who I saw yesterday is very tall.
that
8.- Check if you can omit the pronouns.
The man who I saw yesterday is very tall.
that
9.- The sentence is ready!!!
The man I saw yesterday is very tall.