DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
USE
To add essential information to a phrase
WHO / WHOM / THAT
People
- She is the girl who / that lent me £10 yesterday. → subject
- The girl (whom / that) you met at the party is Tom's girlfriend. → object
- The person (who / whom / that) I was talking about is coming. → object
WHICH / THAT
Things
- That is the museum which / that is in front of the Millennium Bridge. → subject
- The book (which / that) I borrowed from you is on the table. → subject
- This is the smartphone (which / that) I've bought. → object
WHOSE
Possession
- That's the boy whose horse won an important race.
- The man (whose) car broke down is waiting for a tow truck.
WHERE
Places
- There are places where you always feel at home.
- This is the city where I grew up.
WHO / WHOM / THAT - WHICH / THAT
- If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb, it is a subject pronoun. You cannot omit it. - Example: The actor who won the Oscar was very famous.
- You can omit object pronouns. - Example: The people (who / that / whom) I met this morning are very friendly.
- In informal speech, when the verb in the relative clause needs a preposition, we can omit the relative pronoun, and we put the preposition at the end of the relative clause. - Example: The restaurant I was talking about is the one we went to last night.