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Lesson Plan July 7, 2023

Topic: Relative Clauses 01 (who / that / which)

In this lesson we will look at relative clauses using who / that / which.

In English, a relative clause is part of a sentence, it can begin with which, who, that, where or whose.

Section A

Who; we use who when we are talking about people

• Do you know the woman who is standing over there?

Which; we use which when we are talking about things

• I’ve never eaten a pizza which tastes so good!

That; we can use that instead of who or which

• Do you know the women that is standing over there?

• I’ve never eaten a pizza that tastes so good!

Important Points

• That is more usually than which in these types of relative clauses

• When who / that / which is the object of the verb, we can leave it out

  • They didn’t have the shirt that I wanted to buy. (that = the shirt, and is the object of the verb wanted)

  • They didn’t have the shirt I wanted to buy.

• But if who / that / which is the subject of the verb, we CANNOT leave it out

  • Do you know the woman who is standing over there? (NOT Do you know the women is standing over there?)

Section B

We use relative clauses to join two sentences into one sentence.

• “I met a woman. She can speak six languages.” (she —> who)
  I met a women who can speak six languages.

• “Jack was wearing a hat. It was too big for him.” (it —> that or which)
  Jack was wearing a hat that was too big for him.
  Jack was wearing a hat which was too big for him.

Section C

Who is for people (not things)

• A thief is a person who steals things.

• Do you know anybody who can play the piano?

• The man who phoned didn’t give his name.

• The people who work in the office are very friendly.

• The woman who lives next door is a doctor.

• We know a lot of people who live in the countryside.

Which is for things (not people)

• An airplane is a machine which flies.

• Emma lives in a house which is 400 years old.

• Where is the cheese which was in the fridge?

• I don’t like stories which have unhappy endings.

• Grace works for a company which makes furniture.

• The machine which broke down is working again now.

That is for things or people; who tends to be more usual for people than that.

• An airplane is a machine that flies.

• Emma lives in a house that is 400 years old.

• The people that work in the office are very friendly.

• Where is the cheese that was in the fridge.

• Grace works for a company that makes furniture.

Lesson Notes

• A patient is a person who is in hospital. (= they are currently admitted to or receiving treatment in a hospital.). All other cases we use “at the hospital”.

• Have you ever been in hospital?

• I was at the hospital the other day visiting my sick aunt.

• There were many people at the clinic the other day getting tested for influenza.

Using A or The in relative clauses

• A man phoned. He didn’t give his name.

• In this sentence we say "a man" because we don't know exactly which man it is. It could be any man.

• (Relative clause) The man who phoned didn’t give his name.

• In this sentence we say "the man" because we are talking about a specific man. We use "the" to show that it's not just any man, but the one who phoned.

• A woman opened the door. She was wearing a yellow dress.

• We do not know exactly which woman. It could be any woman.

• (Relative clause) The woman who opened the door was wearing a yellow dress.

• We are talking about a specific woman, the one who was wearing a yellow dress.

• A policeman stopped our car. He wasn’t very friendly.

• We do not know exactly which policeman. It could be any policeman.

• (Relative clause) The policeman who stopped our car wasn’t very friendly.

• We are talking about a specific policeman, the one who stopped us.