Relative Clauses

USES:
They give us aditional information about something already mentioned.
There are two types:

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (ESPECIFICATIVAS)

USE: It gives neccessary information about the person, thing or place talking about. It is needed information and it doesn't have commas.

- We can omit the pronoun when it refers to a complement.

- We CAN'T omit the pronoun when it refers to the subject.

WHO / THAT / WHOM : people                     *whom = formal*

WHICH / THAT : things

WHOSE : possesion

WHERE : place

WHEN : time

EXAMPLES:

She is the person who gave us the DVD.

He is the person to whom I spoke / He is the person who I spoke to.

We stayed with a family whose house is next to the hospital.

This is the place where we first met. (WHERE can be omitted)

Christmas is a time when we are all together.

An iPod is a device which plays digital files.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES (EXPLICATIVAS)

USE: It gives extra information but not vital for understanding. It has commas. THAT is not used here.

EXAMPLES:
My friend Maria, who is very good at english, is from Madrid.
The house was built in 1864, which makes it the oldest house in our town.

OTHER RELATIVES CLAUSES

USE: To say "no matter....", show ignorance about what we are talking or express "The one..."

WHOEVER : people                     
WHICHEVER / WHATEVER : things
WHEREVER : place
WHENEVER : time
HOWEVER : how  

Links to exercises:

 Relatives 1

Relatives 2

Relatives 3

Relatives 4

Defining or Non-defining