What are relative clauses?

A relative clause can be used to give additional information about a noun.

They are introduced by a relative pronoun like 'that', 'which', 'who', 'whose', 'where' and 'when'. For example:

I won’t stand by the man who smells of slime.

In this example, the relative clause is ‘who smells of slime’. It provides more information about the man. The relative pronoun, ‘who’, is used to connect these clauses in the sentence.

Relative clauses can be used to create complex sentences as they are a type of subordinate clause.

A subordinate clause is a part of a sentence that adds additional information to the main clause.

Relative clauses come directly after the noun they are referring to.

This might be at the end of a sentence or embedded into the middle of a sentence.

If a relative clause is embedded in the middle of a sentence, it is sometimes, but not always, surrounded by commas.

Relative clauses are introduced by a relative pronoun. The relative pronoun used depends on the person or type of thing you are writing about.

Relative pronouns include:

• ‘Who’ (a person or people)
• ‘Which’ (an object, a place or animals)
• ‘That’ (an object, a place or a person)
• 'When’ (a time)
• ‘Where’ (a place)

Example

Two simple sentences:

Milly played her ukulele to her sister Martha. She was in her bedroom.

Below, the relative pronoun, ‘who’, is used to create a relative clause so these two simple sentences can be connected.

‘She was in her bedroom’ is extra information, so this forms the relative clause.

Relative clause sentence:

Milly, who was in her bedroom, played her ukulele to her sister Martha.

Watch this video to understand how relative clauses can be placed in different positions within a sentence.

Look at this picture of a bear.

Think about what the bear might be able to hear, smell, feel or taste as it hides.

Write three sentences about the picture that include both:

• a relative clause
• one of the five senses

Examples

'The tall trees, that were shielding the bear, creaked and moaned.'

'The cute bear, who could taste honey on his lips, felt the tree dance in the wind as he hid behind it.'

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