03/05/2019

RELATIVE CLAUSE

DEFINING AND NON-DEFINING

RELATIVE CLAUSE

SAMPLE SENTENCES
 You can see people that have got rings.
 And they are in lots of other places that you can’t
see too!
 Mick Shannon, who is a qualified body piercer,
took me to his salon.
 He finished by giving the girl advice on how to
help the skin get better, which was a nice
professional touch.

Words
Words are the smallest meaningful bits of a sentence.

Example: An old man is carrying a sack of money.

Each word has their own class.

Carry is a verb – it tells us what happens.
Man is a noun – it names things.
Old is an adjective – it modifies a noun.

We put words together to make a phrase/clause

/sentence.

1
 03/05/2019

Phrases
 A phrase is a group of related words that
does not include a subject and verb.
several people
the story
the long and winding road

Clause
 A clause is a group of related words
containing a subject and a verb
 An independent clause - which could be its
own sentence
 "She is older than her brother"
 dependent clauses – which can’t stand by
themselves

Sentences
A sentence may consist of two or more
clauses together.
Corruption affects you even if you don’t
get close to it.

2
 03/05/2019

Relative Clauses

 Relativeclauses are dependent

clauses introduced by a Relative
Pronoun (that, which, whichever,
who, whoever, whom, whomever,
whose, and of which).

Relative Clause
The boy is my brother. Which boy are you
talking about?

He is wearing a cap. Oh I see! The boy who is

wearing a cap is your brother.

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

FUNCTION:
Defining Relative Clause is used to identify
the person or thing we are talking about.

3
 03/05/2019

Relative pronouns

Person Animal/thing Possession

Subject who/that which/ that whose

Object whom/that which/that whose

Usage
1/ For Person :
 The one sees Dependent Arising. He sees the Dharma.
→ The one who/ that sees Dependent Arising sees the
Dharma.
 He saw beings. Some are easy to teach and hard to teach.
→ He saw beings who / that are easy to teach and hard to
teach.
 The Konandas were the Buddha’s old companions. The
Buddha was preaching Dharma to them
→ The Konandas whom/ that the Buddha was preaching
Dharma to were his old companions.

2/ Things :
 Some lotuses are born in the water. They are
unstained by it.
→ Some lotuses which/ that are born in the water
are unstained by it.
 The Dharma is profound. The Buddha has
realised it.
→ The Dharma which/ that the Buddha has
realised is profound.

4
 03/05/2019

3/ Possession :
 The lady has a beautiful smile. She is Princess
Yasodhara.
→ The lady whose smile is beautiful is Princess
Yasodhara.
 The bird is sitting in the tree. Its wings are hurt.
→ The bird whose wings are hurt is sitting in
the tree.

4/ Use “that” in these cases :

 Superlative comparison ( so sánh nhất)
He’s the most intelligent one that I admire a lot.
 After “only, the first, the last”
The Noble Eight-fold Path is the only way that
leads one to true happiness.

 After “ no one, nobody, nothing, anyone,

anything, anybody, someone, something,
somebody, all, some, any, little, none”
There is something mysterious here that I have to
explore.
 Mixed antecedent (people & things)
She talked about the people and places that she had
visited.

5
 03/05/2019

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

Example:
- I know a lot of people who have stopped
eating meat.
- You can see people that have got rings.
- I only pierce young people whose parent
or guardian is with them.

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

1. Independent Clause: I thanked the woman.

Dependent/relative Clause: She helped me.
I thanked the woman who/that helped me

2. Independent Clause: I saw the man.

Dependent/relative Clause: He closed the door.
I saw the man who/that closed the door.

*) who/that is the subject of the relative/dependent

clause

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

People that, who

Things that, which
Places where
Possessive whose
Time When

6
 03/05/2019

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

1. I thanked the woman.
She helped me.
I thanked the woman who/that helped me

2. I saw the man.

He closed the door.
I saw the man who/that closed the door.
*) who/that is the subject of the relative clause
*) we do not repeat the subject

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

1. I visited the poor. Their houses are so messy.
I visited the poor whose house are so messy.

2. I apologize the man. I spilled his coffee.

I apologize the man whose coffee I spilled.
*) whose CANNOT be erased/omitted
*) Whose + the noun are placed at the beginning
of the relative clause
*) we do not repeat the possesive pronoun

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

We can erase the relative pronoun who, which, or
that in defining relative clauses if
(1)the relative pronoun is not the subject of the
relative clause OR
(2)the relative pronoun is not followed immediately
by a verb.

7
 03/05/2019

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

1. The girl is happy. She won the race.
The girl who won the race is happy.
We cannot erase relative pronoun (who)
because it is the Subject of relative clause

2. The movie wasn’t good. We saw it last night.

The movie (that) we saw last night wasn’t
good.
We can erase relative pronoun (that) because it
is NOT the Subject of relative clause

Non-defining Relative Clause

Ibu Cicilia, who teaches Bahasa
Indonesia, is a very friendly teacher.

Who are we talking about?

Main clause: Ibu Cicilia is a very friendly
teacher.
Dependent clause: She teaches Bahasa
Indonesia.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

FUNCTION:
Non-Defining Relative Clause is used:
1)to give extra information about a person or
a thing.
2)To comment on the situation described in
the first part of the sentence, before the
comma

8
 03/05/2019

Mick Shannon, who is a qualified body

piercer, took me to his salon.
Main clause: Mick Shannon took me to his
salon.
Dependent clause: who is a qualified body
piercer.

 He finished by giving the girl advice on

how to help the skin get better, which was
a nice professional touch.
Main clause: He finished by giving the girl
advice on how to help the skin better.
Dependent clause: which was a nice
professional touch

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

More EXAMPLE:
- My father, who is a wonderful cook, promised to
make a cake for my 18th birthday.
- Josia, who did not come to class yesterday,
explained his absence to the teacher.

9
 03/05/2019

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSE

NOTE:
- is always separated from the rest of the
sentence by commas.
- We can never omit the relative pronoun
(who, which, where, whose) in a Non-
Defining Relative Clause.
- We cannot use the pronoun ‘that’

DEFINING vs NON DEFINING

Compare:
1. The professor who teaches Chemistry 101 is an
excellent lecturer.

2. Professor Wilson, who teaches Chemistry 101, is an

excellent teacher.

In (1), no commas are used because the Relative Clause is

important/necessary to identify which professor is
meant.
In (2), commas are used because the Relative Clause is not
important/necessary to identify who Professor Wilson is.

Practice
Activity 28 Task B

10
 03/05/2019

Participle Clauses
Instead of using a full relative clause we can
sometimes use a participle clause.
Form Use Example
Present participle To say what the You can see many
person/thing is doing people wearing rings
everywhere.
=
You can see many
people who are wearing
earings everywhere.
Past participle To say what is/was I was looking at the walls
done to the person/thing covered with photos of
mentioned clients.
=
I was looking at the walls
which were covered
with photos of clients.

Prepositional Phrase
 You can omit the relative pronoun and the
verb be when they are followed by a
prepositional phrase in DEFINING
Relative Clauses.
 The computers in our classroom are fast.
= The computers that are in our classroom
are fast.

Prepositional Phrase
An adjective can also come before the
prepositional phrase.
ADJ. + PREP. PHRASE

Example:
- Young workers low in self-esteem are unusual.
- Students great at Mathematics have a chance to
join International Olympiad.

11
 03/05/2019

PART A: Combine the following clauses

1. Clause 1: The doctor was very gentle.
Clause 2: The doctor examined the sick child.
2. Clause 1: The people were late.
Clause 2: I was waiting for the people.
3. Clause 1: The man is my father.
Clause 2: I respect his opinions the most.
4. Clause 1: The dress is new.
Clause 2: She is wearing the dress.
5. Clause 1: Mr. Cart has a painting.
Clause 2: The painting’s value / Its value is inestimable.

PART B: Split the sentences below into two

independent clauses
1. We enjoyed the city where we spent our vacation.
2. I love Paris, where we spent our last Christmas holiday.
3. Matthew, who speaks Russian very well, applied for the
job.
4. The professor whose course I am taking is excellent.
5. The people whose house we visited were nice.

EXERCISE
PART A: Supply the correct Relative Pronoun!
1. The man ___________ wallet was stolen called the police.
2. Did I tell you about the woman _________ I met last night?
3. We are studying sentences __________ contain adjective clauses.
4. I saw the girl _________ crashed to my car yesterday.
5. The meeting _________ I went to was interesting.
6. I apologized the man __________ tea I spilled.
7. I love the restaurant ___________ we first met.
8. I am reading a book _________ was written by Andrea Hirata.
9. The town ___________ I grew up is small.
10. I like a girl ____________ character is unique and unusual.

12
 03/05/2019

EXERCISE
PART B: combine the two clauses in each
number. Put commas when necessary!
1. The book was good. I read it.
2. Mr. Brown is very proud of his son’s
achievement. His son won the spelling contest.
3. The building is very old. He lives in that building.
4. Hawaii is a favorite vacation spot. It consists of
eight principal islands.
5. Mr. Cart has a painting. The painting’s value is
inestimable.

EXERCISE
PART C: Decide whether the sentence below is
Defining (D) or Non-Defining (ND). Add commas to
the Non-Defining sentence.
1. (D / ND) Barbara who is a hairdresser has her own
beauty salon.
2. (D / ND)Bandung which is sometimes called Paris van
Java has been visited by many tourists.
3. (D / ND) I only pierce people who have commitment to
do body piercing.
4. (D / ND) We stayed in a hotel whose pool was not used
by the guests.
5. (D / ND) My eldest sister who is wearing the blue jacket
is going to get married.

13