Explaining relative clauses with ‘who’ - E3-05W

[Important reminder: this is a level 3 (intermediate) explanation file – E3-... It is for students who are just learning how to use relative clauses. If you want to know more, look at the material on relative clauses in the higher levels: E4-… etc]

Look at these two pairs of sentences:

 

0        My sister now lives in Brighton. My sister has just got married.

      My sister, who now lives in Brighton, has just got married.

    00    I’ve just seen the director. He (i.e. the director) has offered me a new job.

 I’ve just seen the director, who has offered me a new job.

 

Explanation: In the first example, ‘my sister’ is the subject of two verbs: lives, has got. When we put these two sentences together, we make the most important statement into the main clause: My sister has just got married. The second, not so important, is put inside it, just after the subject – my sister – and joined to it by who.

In the second example, ‘the director (He)’ is the object of the first verb – seen, but the subject of the second – has offered.  In this case, we make no change to the word order when we put the two sentences together. All we do is to replace ‘He’ by who.

Punctuation:

When we have one clause inside another, the one which is inserted must have a comma at the beginning (just before ‘who’) AND at the end of it. The other type needs only one comma, just before ‘who’

 

Practice: Now put these pairs of sentences together to make one sentence each time, using who, according to the system in either example 0 or 00. You can find the answers at the end of the exercise  

 

1   I have an uncle.  He repairs cars.

    

2   I went to see my friends. They work at the factory.

         

3    My cousin has just got married.  He is called Abdullah.

4.   Julia is coming to spend the weekend with me. She was my best friend at school.

 

 

 

 

I have an uncle who repairs cars.

I went to see my friends who work at the factory.

My cousin, who is called Abdullah, has just got married.

Julia, who was my best friend at school, is coming to spend the weekend with me.