1. Relative Clause

2. Relative Clause Which boy are you talking about?
The boy is my brother.
He is wearing a cap.
Oh I see! The boy who is wearing a cap is your brother.

3. Are you talking about me?
Relative Clause
The boy who is wearing a cap is my brother.
Are you talking about me?
What does it refer to?
The relative pronouns (which, who, whom or that) refer to the noun (or noun phrase) before it.

4. Relative Clause People  who (subject), whom (object) Things  which
We can use ‘that’ instead of ‘who’, ‘whom’ and ‘which’.

5. Relative Clause The lady who (that) talked to me last night was Jenny.
 Jenny talked to me last night.
(Sub.)
The lady whom (that) talked to last night was Jenny.
 I talked to Jenny last night.
(Obj.) I

6. Relative Clause Which relative pronoun should we use?
The girl studies French doesn’t speak Cantonese.
Do you know the man I talked to?
It’s a book will interest children of all ages.
who/that
whom/that
which/that

7. Relative Clause The students are smart.
They are learning relative clauses.
The students
who are learning relative clauses
are smart.
‘who’ is used instead of ‘they’

8. Relative Clause Try to connect the sentences by using relative clause.
e.g. The girls annoyed me. They talked too much.
The girls who talked too much annoyed me.

9. Relative Clause The man told me to come back today. He left yesterday.
The cute boy is the owner’s son. He works in the shop.
The ladder began to slip. I was standing on it.
The man who left yesterday told me to come back today.
The cute boy who works in the shop is the owner’s son.
The ladder which I was standing on began to slip. /
The ladder on which I was standing began to slip. (more formal)

10. Relative Clause
Remember! The pronoun refers to the same thing as the relative pronoun does should be omitted.
e.g. The girl is my sister. You saw her yesterday.
A: The girl whom you saw her yesterday is my sister.
B: The girl whom you saw yesterday is my sister.

11. Exercise Time

12. Exercise The watch is mine. You saw the watch in the drawer.
The girl is my cousin. Ben talked to the girl.
The watch which (that) you saw in the drawer is mine.
The girl whom (that) Ben talked to is my cousin.

13. The park is beautiful. The park is next to our school.
The dictionary is useful. I bought the dictionary yesterday.
The park which (that) is next to our school is beautiful.
The dictionary which (that) I bought yesterday is useful.

14. The problem is difficult to solve. We are facing the problem.
The problem which (that) we are facing is difficult to solve.

15. Two types of relative clauses:
Non-Defining
Extra information about a noun in a sentence
The new Woody Allen film, which I saw last week, is very good.
Use commas
Always use a relative pronoun:
who/whom ,which whose, where, when
Defining
Essential information about a noun in a sentence
You’re the man (that) I saw last week.
No commas
Can omit pronoun if it is not the SUBJECT of the relative clause
That (informal) can replace which / who/ when / why but not where, whose or whom

16. Defining relative clauses = No commas
A defining relative clause identifies which person or thing we mean exactly.
It cannot be left out of the sentence or the meaning of the sentence is incomplete:
It’s the book that I read yesterday.
* It’s the book. (this sentence is incomplete)

17. Defining relative clauses = No commas
You can omit the pronoun if it is the OBJECT of the relative clause (if there is a SUBJECT and a VERB after the relative pronoun )
It’s the book that I read yesterday (omit)
It’s the book I read yesterday.
The girl who lives next door is French.
We can never omit WHOSE and WHERE

18. Non-defining relative clauses = with commas
This kind of clause gives additional information about a person or thing.
The sentence still makes sense without the non-defining relative clause:
My neighbour, who studies engineering, is very noisy.
My neighbour is very noisy.

19. Verb + preposition
When the verb is followed by a preposition in the relative clause we can use two structures:
The woman is a lawyer. I spoke to a woman
Formal: Preposition + rel.pronoun
The woman to whom* I spoke is a lawyer.
(*We can’t omit the relative pronoun after a preposition) Or
Informal: Preposition after the verb
The woman (who) I spoke to is a lawyer.