2. Relative clauses with
who/that/which
• A clause is a part of a statement. A relative
clause tells us which person or thing (or
what kind of person or thing) the speaker
means.
• Who/that is used when we are talking about
people.
• When we are talking about things, we have
to use that/which.

3. Examples
• The man who lives next door is very
friendly.
• Who was the girl that spoke very
offensively in the ball?
• Everything that happened was not my fault.
• The window which was broken has now
been repaired.

4. Contact clauses
• If a clause is an object relative clause and it
is defining, who, that or which is not
necessary.
It is not possible to omit who, that or which
in a subject relative clause.
The man was feeling ill left early.

5. Examples
• Have you seen the dress (which) I bought
yesterday?
• The woman (who was) injured in the
accident was taken to the hospital.
• There were some children (who were)
swimming in the river.

6. Whose
• Whose is used to indicate
possession in relative clauses
instead of his/her/their.

7. Examples
• An orphan means a child whose parents are
dead.
• She’s the journalist whose article was on
the front page of The Times.

8. Where/when/why
• Where is used to talk about places.
• When is used to indicate time.
• We can use why when we are explaining
the reason in a relative clause. It is also
possible to use that instead or leave out why
and that.

9. Examples
• I couldn’t understand the reason why they
were rude.
• I recently went back to the town where I
was born.
• 1945 was the year when World War II
ended.

10. Examples
• I couldn’t understand the reason why they
were rude.
• I recently went back to the town where I
was born.
• 1945 was the year when World War II
ended.