Relative Clauses

DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

These clauses describe the preceding noun in such a way as to distinguish it from other nouns of the same class. A clause of this kind is essential to the clearunderstanding of the noun.
In the sentence:
The man who told me this refused to give me his name.
´who told me this` is the relative clause. If we omit this, it is not clear what man we are talkingabout. Notice that there is no comma between a noun and a defining relative clause.
| |SUBJECT |OBJECT |POSSESSIVE|
|FOR PEOPLE |WHO |WHOM / WHO |WHOSE |
| |THAT|THAT | |
| | | --------- ||
| | |Prep. + whom/ that | |
|| |Who/ that + ….prep | |
| | |-------- + …… prep. ||
|FOR THINGS |WHICH |WHICH |WHOSE / OF WHICH |
||THAT |THAT | |
| | | ---------| |
| | |prep. + which / that | |
|...