Relative clauses
Relative clauses
The book which I bought. My friend, who lives in Rome, called. Learn the difference between defining and non-defining clauses plus whose, where and whom.
Defining relative clauses
👉 They tell us which person/thing we mean — essential info, no commas:
The man who called is my uncle.
The book that you lent me is great.
The city where I grew up has changed.
👉 that can replace who/which in defining clauses.
Non-defining clauses
👉 They add extra info — we already know who/what. Commas required, never that:
My brother, who lives in Madrid, is a doctor.
The new phone, which costs a fortune, broke after a week.
👉 Compare: My sister who lives in Paris (I have more sisters — which one? the Paris one) vs My sister, who lives in Paris, (only one sister).
whose, where, whom, prepositions
whose = possession: The girl whose dog ran away.
where = place: The café where we met.
whom = formal object: The man to whom I spoke. (informal: The man I spoke to.)
👉 Preposition + which: The house in which he was born = The house where he was born.
👉 When the pronoun is the object, you can omit it: The film (that) we saw.
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