- Like single-word adjectives, a relative (adjective) clause modifies nouns and answers the question what or which? A relative clause is a type of dependent clause: Tom, who loves baseball, goes to the batting cages every Saturday morning. The relative clause, "... who loves baseball" modifies the noun, "Tom".
- Restricted or defining (essential) relative clauses
- A restricted or essential relative clause is one that is required to understand the meaning of the sentence.
- The boy who wore the red sweater won the lottery.
- If the restricted relative clause (i.e., ... who wore the red sweater...) were to be removed from the sentence, it would not be clear which boy won the lottery.
- The school that burned to the ground was being rebuilt due to the generosity of an anonymous donor.
- The relative pronoun, that, always begins a restricted relative clause.
- The baseball which left Babe Ruth's bat and landed in the pond outside of the stadium was an instant collectible.
- If the restricted relative clause (i.e., ... which left Babe Ruth's bat and landed in the pond outside of the stadium...) were to be removed from the sentence, it would not have the same meaning.
- Unrestricted or non-defining (non-essential) relative clauses
- An unrestricted (non-essential) relative clause provides extra information and its removal does not interfere with the overall meaning of the sentence.
- Katie, who loves to play video games, is a good student and seldom misses class.
- The chair, which was painted red, is a collectible.
- My biological Mom, who has red hair, loves to visit the beauty salon.
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Notice in this last example, "My biological Mom..." the omission of the commas. Unrestricted relative clauses require commas to separate them from the rest of the sentences. In the third example, it should read as follows: My biological Mom, loves to visit the beauty salon.
who has red hair,
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Notice that if this example were left without commas to separate the relative clause, it would be illogical. Since I can only have one biological Mom, I don't need the relative clause, "... who has red hair" do distinguish between two or more other Moms since there can only be one (biological Mom). 😉
A relative clause usually begins with the following relative pronouns: who, (to/with) whom, which, that, and whose. Others include why, when, where, etc.
