Relative Clauses: The "Magic Glue" of Sentences

Imagine you have two short sentences. Relative clauses are like "magic glue" that lets you stick them together to make one smooth, detailed sentence. We use special connecting words (called relative pronouns) to do this: who, which, and where. These words replace the repeated noun in the second sentence.

"who" – For People

We use "who" when we are talking about people. It replaces words like he, she, they, or a person's name in the second sentence.

  • How to build it: First sentence + who + the rest of the second sentence (without the repeated pronoun).
  • Examples:
    • Two short sentences: I know a girl. She speaks four languages.
    • Glued together: I know a girl who speaks four languages.
    • Another example: The doctor is very kind. He treated my grandmother.
    • Glued together: The doctor who treated my grandmother is very kind.

"which" – For Things

We use "which" when we are talking about things, animals, or objects. It replaces words like it or they in the second sentence.

  • How to build it: First sentence + which + the rest of the second sentence (without the repeated pronoun).
  • Examples:
    • Two short sentences: She bought a dress. It was on sale.
    • Glued together: She bought a dress which was on sale.
    • Another example: I found a wallet. It had a lot of money inside.
    • Glued together: I found a wallet which had a lot of money inside.

"where" – For Places

We use "where" when we are talking about a place. It replaces words like there in the second sentence.

  • How to build it: First sentence + where + the rest of the second sentence (without the repeated pronoun).
  • Examples:
    • Two short sentences: This is the restaurant. We ate there last night.
    • Glued together: This is the restaurant where we ate last night.
    • Another example: I want to visit the town. My father grew up there.
    • Glued together: I want to visit the town where my father grew up.

Note:

Look at how the meaning changes depending on the word you choose. It all depends on whether you are describing the thing itself or the place.

  • Sentence 1: A wadi is an ecosystem which is normally dry. (Here, we are describing the nature of the wadi – it is a dry ecosystem. We use which because we are talking about the thing itself.)
  • Sentence 2: A wadi is a place where desert animals look for food. (Here, we are talking about the location and what happens there. We use where because we are talking about the place.)