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What is a relative clause?

What is a relative clause?

We can use relative clauses to join two English sentences, or to give more information about something.


I bought a new car. It is very fast.
? I bought a new car that is very fast.

She lives in New York. She likes living in New York.
? She lives in New York, which she likes.

Defining and Non-defining
A defining relative clause tells which noun we are talking about:

  • I like the woman who lives next door.
(If I don’t say ‘who lives next door’, then we don’t know which woman I mean)

A non-defining relative clause gives us extra information about something. We don’t need this information to understand the sentence.

  • I live in London, which has some fantastic parks.
(Everybody knows where London is, ‘which has some fantastic parks’ is extra information)


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