ENGLISH GRAMMAR EXPLAINED: Relative clauses (B1, B2, C1)

Some basic concepts: what actually is a relative clause? What is it's function in English? What does it do? If we understand the basic ideas of what a relative does and how it is made we can then work on looking at different types of relative clause and start to sound more natural.

Okay, one step back. What even is a clause? These are not just abstract grammar words...if we understand these grammatical concepts it will help us when the topics get more advanced. And not just in this course, but in general.

A relative clause is a type of complex sentence. This idea is very important to make our English more advanced (and very important for English exams such as IELTS). So let's ask what is a:

i. simple sentence;

ii. compound sentence;

iii. complex sentence;

iv. complex-compound sentence?

A relative pronoun comes before the relative clause. And an important part of using relative clause correctly is choosing the correct relative pronoun. Here we look at using WHO, WHICH, and THAT.

A relative pronoun comes before the relative clause. And an important part of using relative clause correctly is choosing the correct relative pronoun. Here we look at using WHOSE.

A relative pronoun comes before the relative clause. And an important part of using relative clause correctly is choosing the correct relative pronoun. Here we look at using WHOM.

Time to practice! Check your understanding with this short exercise by choosing the correct relative pronoun for these sentences. It is good practice for the larger practice coming next.

Let's try a larger practice example looking at how relative clauses can be used for actual pieces of writing in English by looking at a movie review of the Batman movies. Here are questions 1 - 5

Let's try a larger practice example looking at how relative clauses can be used for actual pieces of writing in English by looking at a movie review of the Batman movies. Here are questions 6 - 10

Let's get a bit more advanced now by looking at two very important types of relative clauses: defining and non-defining. Even though they look very similar, actually it can change the meaning a lot and there are different grammar rules for each. So let's have a look.

This topic can be a bit confusing for some students so let's look at two different ways of showing how these two types of relative clause can change the meaning. This first example is using the Batman relative clause sentences we just looked at. Maybe it will be easy to understand if you love Batman :-)

...but if you don't love Batman, don't worry. Here is a more general example which shows the difference between defining and non-defining relative clauses. Hopefully, one of these two explanations will be clear because the difference between defining and non-defining is quite important.

Let's do a quick practice to check your ability to identify defining and non-defining clauses. Even if you don't fully understand the possible difference in meaning, it is still good to be able to visually identify which clause is which so we can at least use the correct grammar rules for each.

Getting a bit detailed now. Let's look at relative adverbs (WHERE, WHEN, WHY). Some books put these together with the relative pronouns we looked at before...but actually the grammar is a bit different. When we first introduce them the difference is small, but it is important to know this difference for the more advanced parts of the course later.

Let's take a short pause to review what we have just learned with a few quick exercises to practice choosing the correct relative adverb.

WARNING: difficult section. Let's dig a bit deeper into the difference between relative pronouns and relative adverbs and how, if we understand this difference, we can use it to answer grammar questions. This part is a bit confusing so if you don't understand it 100% the first time you watch, please don't worry. Try the example sentences in the next section and see how you do :-D

We have already studied a lot of things and talked about many important grammatical points. Let's practice everything so far with some example sentences by choosing the correct relative pronoun OR relative adverb.

We have already studied a lot of things and talked about many important grammatical points. Let's practice everything so far with some example sentences by choosing the correct relative pronoun OR relative adverb.

In this section we look at changing the relative adverb into a combination of a preposition (e.g. in, on, at) with the relative pronoun WHICH. This is not so common these days because it sounds quite formal, but it is still a structure you will sometimes hear so it is useful to study it.

The previous section introduced a more formal way of making relative clauses and now this section takes that idea and makes it even more formal. Again, these patterns are not so common but you do sometimes hear them and we will also so some advanced practice later so it is useful understand and be able to make these structures.

Now that we know how to make different types or relative clauses, let's look at ways we can make them sound even more natural. The way we do this is by making the relative clause shorter. One way we do this is by removing the relative pronoun in some sentences. Let's look and see when we can do this.

Here is a short practice and an extra PDF with some example questions for you to practice this new idea.

Now we getting into quite advanced topics. If we said before that we can change relative adverbs to PREPOSITION + WHICH and we also said that in some sentences we can remove the relative pronoun, does that mean we can remove it in these relative adverb variations? Let's find out.

Having said that we CAN remove the relative pronoun in these relative adverb variation sentences, let's look at specific rules depending on which relative adverb we have changed. This is for when we have changed WHERE.

Having said that we CAN remove the relative pronoun in these relative adverb variation sentences, let's look at specific rules depending on which relative adverb we have changed. This is for when we have changed WHEN.

Having said that we CAN remove the relative pronoun in these relative adverb variation sentences, let's look at specific rules depending on which relative adverb we have changed. This is for when we have changed WHY.

In this section we have studied a lot of information and it might be very confusing. Let's take a moment to review.

Time to practice! Here are questions 1 - 5 for you to practice removing the relative pronoun where possible.

Time to practice! Here are questions 6 - 10 for you to practice removing the relative pronoun where possible.

Well done. You've studied a difficult topic. Hopefully you got most of the questions correct. But if you didn't, it's okay. Just keep practicing.