The Grammaring Guide to English Grammar with Exercises

Defining relative clause

A noun can be modified in different ways: by an adjective, a noun or a phrase:

the

best-selling

book, a

beautiful

photo

(adjective)

the

history

book, an

art

photo

(noun)

the book

with the most votes

, a photo

by Robert Capa

(phrase)

Another way of modifying a noun is with a defining (also called a restrictive) relative clause:

the book

I told you about last week

a photo

which was taken by Robert Capa

This type of relative clause identifies or classifies the noun that it refers to.

An identifying clause defines who or what we are talking about and refers to a noun which is preceded by the definite article the:

This is the book

I told you about last week

. Remember?

Do you know the guy

who is talking to Will over there

?

A classifying clause describes what kind of person(s) or thing(s) we are talking about. It refers to a singular uncountable or plural countable noun without an article or a singular countable noun preceded by the indefinite article a or an:

I wrote my essay on a photo

which was taken by Robert Capa

.

Sometimes, I like listening to music

that makes me sad

.

I don't know any people

who speak Esperanto

.

Quotes:

The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. - A. K. Best

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. - Albert Einstein

Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home. - Carol Nelson

The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. - Donald Kendall

People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them. - Epictetus

Gossip needn't be false to be evil - there's a lot of truth that shouldn't be passed around. - Frank A. Clark

April is a promise that May is bound to keep. - Hal Borland

It's not who you are that holds you back, it's who you think you're not. - Hanoch McCarty

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. - Henry David Thoreau

There is no man living that cannot do more than he thinks he can. - Henry Ford

A city is a large community where people are lonesome together. - Herbert Prochnow

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment. - John Wooden

It is the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. - Marlene Dietrich

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want. - Mignon McLaughlin

Those who wish to sing always find a song. - Swedish proverb

Action will remove the doubts that theory cannot solve. - Tehyi Hsieh

It is the familiar that usually eludes us in life. What is before our nose is what we see last. - William Barret

Related topics:

Cleft sentences