1. Relative clauses Defining and non-defining clauses

2. In the school yard Natalie? The girl who plays the piano? I saw Natalie the other day.

3. In the schoolyard No, that’s Natasha. Natalie is the girl who dropped out of college.

4. In the schoolyard She’s working in Davidson’s now. You know, the shop that sells expensive clothes.

5. Let’s look at the lines more closely Emma: I saw Natalie the other day. Melanie: Natalie? The girl who plays the piano? Emma: No, that’s Natasha. Natalie is the student who dropped out of college. She’s working in Davidson’s now. You know, the shop that sells expensive clothes.  Clauses printed in red are called relative clauses. They give us extra information about the subject or the object of the previous sentence/clause.

6. Explanation The relative clauses in this conversation identify which person/thing they are talking about. The clause who plays the piano tells us which girl Melanie means. The clause that sells very expensive clothes tells us which shop Emma means. Relative clauses are usually introduced by pronouns: who, which and that.

7. WH0 The relative pronoun who refers to people. e.g. The woman who lived here before us is a romantic novelist. It is also possible to use that when we talk about people especially in informal language. e.g. This is the girl that has eaten all the biscuits.

8. THAT/WHICH The relative pronouns that & which refer to things. That is more usual than which, especially in conversation. e.g. The car that won the race looked very futuristic. Which is more formal. e.g. All cells contain DNA which holds genetic information.

9. OTHER PRONOUNS WHOSE - refers to things belonging to people. e.g. That was the man whose car was stolen.

10. Leaving out the relative pronoun We can leave out the relative pronoun when it is not the subject of the relative clause. e.g. Einstein is a scientist who I admire. Firefighters are people who have dangerous jobs.