Maryknoll Secondary School

F.3

English Usage

Relative Clauses

– 1. Defining relative clauses– 2. Non-defining clauses

Defining Relative Clauses

Look at the following examples and discover the use of defining relative clauses:

The man is tired. He is sleeping now.

The man who is tired is sleeping now.

The students are playing. They study in our school.

The students who are playing study in our school.

Can you try it yourself? Try to combine each pair of the following sentences into one.

1. The teacher is smiling. She is Mrs Chu.

2. The little girl likes singing. She is my friend.

3. Those boys are playing. They study in my class.

The teacher who is smiling is Mrs Chu.

The little girl who likes singing is my friend.

Those boys who are playing study in my class.

Now look at the following examples and see the difference.

The cat is drinking milk. It belongs to me.

The cat which is drinking milk belongs to me.

The desks are broken. They need to be repaired.

The desks which are broken need to be repaired.

What’s the use of defining relative clauses?

We use defining clauses to describe the people or things in a sentence to make the meaning more complete.

Relative pronoun Use

who to describe people

which to describe things

that

Quiz

Please choose a relative pronoun to fill in the blanks. Try not to use “that” as the answer.

1. Do you know the lady ______ is talking to me?

2. I went to the restaurant _______ was opened last

week.

3. The girl _______ was sitting beside me always fell

asleep.

4. The T-shirt _______ is from Canada is very pretty.

Level One:

who

which

who

which

Quiz

Level Two:

Please combine the following sentences using a relative pronoun.

1. I like that boy. He is very friendly.

2. Computer is common nowadays. It is very expensive.

I like that boy who is very friendly.

Computer which is common nowadays is expensive.or

Computer which is expensive is common nowadays.

Non-defining Relative Clauses

Look at the following examples and see how they are different from what we have just learnt.

1. Kevin Wong is a manager. He works very hard.

Kevin Wong, who is a manager, works very hard.or

Kevin Wong, who works very hard, is a manager.

2. Your pen is not working. It is on my desk.

Your pen, which is on my desk, is not working.

What is the difference between defining and non-defining relative clauses? Any guess?

We use non-defining relative clauses to give more information about the things or persons we already know or are familiar with.

Non-defining clauses can be left out of the sentence without affecting the meaning.

They are separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma or a pair of commas.

__________________

can be left out

Quiz

Rewrite the following sentences by using defining or non-defining relative clauses.

1. Mr. Chan always helps me. He is a kind man.

2. The boy hurt his leg. He fell down from the fence.

3. Did you see the book? It was on my desk.

4. Our school has been renovated. It is very beautiful.

Mr. Chan, who always helps me, is a kind man.

The boy who fell down from the fence hurt his leg.

Did you see the book which was on my desk?

Our school, which has been renovated, is very beautiful.

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Useful websites

http://www.englishgrammar101.com/Volume2.html

http://www.telenex.hku.hk/telec/sti/main.htm

http://www.telenex.hku.hk/telec/grammar/main.htm

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