
When we write defining relative clauses we use three common relative pronouns: These are Defining Relative Clauses and Non-Defining Relative Clauses.Ī Defining Relative Clause contains information about a noun which is essential, that is to say that this information is necessary for us to have in order for us to understand the noun exactly. It also helps us to avoid repeating words.Īs you hopefully can remember – there are two types of relative clauses. Using relative clauses in English makes speaking and writing more fluent. I have a cat which/that I rescued from a storm when he was only a kitten. What we can do instead is to use a Relative Clause. However, it isn’t possible for us to structure the sentence in the form I have a + adjective + cat because there is no adjective in English that can describe this idea (I have a rescued-from-a-storm-when-he-was-only-a-kitten cat!?). Here, the second sentence is giving descriptive information about my cat. I rescued the cat from a storm when he was only a kitten.

As you will see, Relative Clauses can also be used to join two short sentences together into a longer, more coherent single sentence. This might be because there isn’t actually a suitable adjective that you could use. A Relative Clause is a part of a sentence that describes a noun, when it wouldn’t be possible to use an adjective to do the job. Let us begin with reminding ourselves about Relative Clauses.
