Grammar: Relative Clauses (Who, Which, That) – English – 2nd Year Middle School – Algeria

Relative Clauses with Who, Which, That

Relative clauses are used to give more information about a person or a thing. They begin with relative pronouns like who, which, and that.

Relative Pronouns

• Who: refers to people. Example: The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
• Which: refers to animals, things, and ideas. Example: The book which I read was interesting.
• That: refers to people, animals, or things (used in defining relative clauses). Example: The car that I bought is blue.

Defining vs. Non-defining Relative Clauses

Defining relative clauses give essential information needed to identify the person or thing. They are written without commas.
Example: The student who sits next to me is my best friend.

Non-defining relative clauses give extra, non-essential information. They are written with commas.
Example: My brother, who lives in London, is an engineer.

More Examples

– The teacher who teaches us English is very kind.
– The museum which we visited was amazing.
– The phone that I bought is very expensive.
– The girl who won the competition is from my school.

When can we omit the relative pronoun?

In defining relative clauses, we can omit the relative pronoun when it is the object of the clause.
– The film that I watched was boring. → The film I watched was boring. (correct)
– But we cannot omit: The man who called you is waiting. (who is the subject)

Exercises

Complete with who, which, or that:

1. The girl ________ is singing is my sister.
2. This is the house ________ my grandfather built.
3. The man ________ you met yesterday is my uncle.
4. The cake ________ she made was delicious.

Learn more grammar with Countable and Uncountable Nouns and Past Continuous Tense.