How to identify relative clauses

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Some relative clauses identify or classify nouns: they tell us which person or thing, or which kind of person or thing, is meant. These are called identifying, defining or restrictive relative clauses.

Consider the example given below.

People who take physical exercise live longer.

Here the relative clause is who take physical exercise. This relative clause is identifying, since it is required for identification: without it, we would have only People live longer, which does not identify the people under discussion.

Other examples are given below.

The restaurant which we visited last night was pretty good.
Paris is a city I have always wanted to visit.
She married a man that she met on a bus.

Identifying relative clauses usually follow immediately after the nouns that they modify, without a break: they are not separated by commas in writing. This is because the noun would be incomplete without the relative clause, and the sentence would make no sense or have a different meaning.

A non-defining relative clause is not required for identification. It serves only to provide additional information. Non-identifying clauses are normally separated by commas.

Janet, who does my hair, has moved to another hairdresser's.

Here the relative clause is who does my hair. This relative clause is non-identifying, since it is not required to identify Janet: it merely provides additional information.

Another example is given below.

She married a smart architect from Beijing, whom she met on a bus.

That

That is common as a relative pronoun in identifying clauses. It can refer to things and in an informal style to people.

This is the boy that won the first prize. (OR ... who won the first prize.)
Here is the man that I told you of. (OR ... of whom I told you.)

In non-identifying clauses, that is unusual.

This is John, who won the first prize. (BUT NOT This is John, that won the first prize.)

In identifying relative clauses, we often leave out object pronouns. In non-identifying clauses this is not possible.

I still remember the men (whom) I knew in my youth. (identifying)
Be loyal to the friends (that) you have. (identifying)
I feel sorry for the man (whom) she married.
She went to work with my cousin, whom she later married. (NOT She went to work with my cousin, she later married.)

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Transformation of sentences - I
Transformation of sentences - II
Transformation of a Simple sentence into a compound sentence
Transformation of a compound sentence into a simple sentence
Transformation of a simple sentence into a complex sentence
Transformation of a complex sentence into a simple sentence
Transformation of sentences containing too
Interchange of degrees of comparison
Combining two sentences using too...to and so...that
How to combine two sentences using too...to

How to identify relative clauses

That

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