7-5 Relative Clauses with Subject Relative Pronouns

We'll be changing our focus a little bit for the rest of the unit and looking at how to modify nouns using small sentences, called relative clauses. Relative clauses act like adjectives (describing words), but are groups of words within a sentence instead of a single word. There are two types of relative clauses: restrictive and nonrestrictive. Both types of clauses have a subject and a verb, but they cannot stand alone as a sentence because they are dependent on the main clause.

As you can see in some of the examples below, a relative clause can occur anywhere in a sentence but it must follow the noun it refers to.

Restrictive relative clauses distinguish one noun from another. In the following examples, the restrictive relative clause comes after the main clause:

Restrictive relative clauses can also be surrounded by the main clause (which is split into two):

As you can see in the example below, the relative clause can help you distinguish between different nouns:

Nonrestrictive relative clauses give extra infomration about a noun and are separated from that noun by commas. They can also come after the main clause, or be surrounded by the main clause.

Here are two examples of nonrestrictive relative clauses inside the main clause. Notice that there are two commas here surrounding the relative clause.

When who, which, or that is the subject of a relative clause, it is called a subject relative pronoun. Subject relative pronouns are used to connect the main clause to the relative clause, and always appear as the FIRST word of the relative clause.

A subject relative pronoun is followed by a verb. The verb agees with the noun that the subject relative pronoun refers to.

In restrictive clauses, who and that are used for people. Which and that are used for things and animals. In nonrestrictive clauses, who is used for people and which is used for things.