English — Grammar: Relative Clauses — Defining and Non-Defining — 2nd Year Secondary

Relative clauses (also called adjective clauses) give more information about a noun. There are two types: defining (restrictive) and non-defining (non-restrictive) relative clauses.

I. Defining Relative Clauses

These clauses provide essential information needed to identify the noun. Without them, the sentence would be incomplete or unclear. No commas are used.

Examples:
“The man who lives next door is a doctor.” (essential to identify which man)
“The book that I borrowed is on the table.”

Relative pronouns used: who (people), which (things), that (people/things), whose (possession), whom (people – formal).
Example: “The student whose phone rang was embarrassed.”

Omitting the relative pronoun: In defining clauses, we can omit “who”, “which”, or “that” when they are the object of the clause.
“The film [that] I watched was amazing.” (that is the object of “watched”)
“The woman [who] I met is French.” (who is the object of “met”)

II. Non-Defining Relative Clauses

These clauses add extra information that is not essential to identify the noun. They are enclosed in commas.

Examples:
“My father, who is 60 years old, still works every day.” (we already know who “my father” is)
“Paris, which is the capital of France, is a beautiful city.”

Rules:
– Cannot use “that” — use “who” for people, “which” for things.
– Cannot omit the relative pronoun.
– Always use commas.

III. Comparison Table

Feature	Defining	Non-Defining
Essential information?	Yes	No
Commas?	No	Yes
Can use “that”?	Yes	No
Can omit pronoun?	Yes (if object)	No

IV. Exercises

1. Add commas where necessary: “My sister who lives in London is an engineer.”
2. Combine the sentences: “I met a woman. She speaks five languages.”
3. Correct the mistakes: “The house which I was born in is now a museum.”

For more grammar lessons, see Future Continuous and Future Perfect and Shakespeare’s Tragedies.

English — Grammar: Relative Clauses — Defining and Non-Defining — 2nd Year Secondary