RELATIVE CLAUSES

Listen and read.

DEFINING:

A cook is a person THAT works in a restaurant. =  A cook is a person WHO works in a restaurant.

A clock is a thing THAT tells the time. =  A clock is a thing WHICH tells the time.

A post office is a place WHERE you can buy stamps.

NON-DEFINING:

My brother and his wife, WHO work in the same hospital, never go on holiday together.

We visited Granada, WHICH is a town in the south of Spain.

The Odeon Theatre, WHERE so many local actors performed, was closed in 1998.

Importance of punctuation:

The Spanish athletes who / that won the two races became national heroes.

The Spanish athletes, who won the two races, became national heroes.

Rule of thumb (regla casera)

People: WHO / THAT                                    Things: WHICH / THAT                  Places: WHERE

BUT… if there’s a comma, don’t use THAT!

Common mistakes:

We visited the cathedral, that was built in the sixteenth century. >>. …the cathedral, which was built…

Mr Holmes, that was my history teacher, was always very kind. >> Mr Holmes, who was my…

A cook is a person that he works in a hospital.

A clock is a thing that it tells the time.

A post office is a place where you can buy stamps there.

Omission of the relative pronoun

Common in defining (NO COMMAS) relative clauses where the pronoun is the object of the clause:

Tick the words you hear = Tick the words that / which you hear.

Think of a hero you admire. = Think of a hero who / that you admire.

Tick seven things you see in the box below. = Tick seven things that / which you see in the box below.

Cross out the phrase which does not go with the verb. (No omission: WHICH is the subject of DOES)

Find three things that / which are the same. (No omission: the pronoun is the subject of ARE)