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Cheatsheet: Relative Clauses

Sentence building

Relative Clauses

PointRuleExample
Formnoun + who / which / that + clause; right after the nounThe woman who lives next door is a nurse.
who, whichwho for people, which for thingsThe woman who lives next door is a nurse. / The book which I bought was cheap.
thatpeople or things, in defining clauses onlyThe film that we saw was long.
whosepossession; a noun followsThe man whose car was stolen called the police.
whereplacesThe café where we met has closed.
Subject pronounstays: a verb followsThe girl who speaks French is my cousin.
Object pronouncan be left out in a defining clause onlyThe film I saw was long.
Definingsays which one; no commasThe man who called is my uncle.
Non-definingextra information in commas; who / which / whose / whereParis, which I visited in May, is beautiful.
Trapwhere already includes the prepositionThe house where I live is old.