The use of relative clauses

A Introduction

There are two kinds of relative clause. Compare this conversation and newspaper report.

Laura: Art Golding has died.

Trevor: Who?

Laura: You know. The film star who played the ship's captain in 'Iceberg'.

Trevor: I don't think I've seen that.

Laura: Yes, you have. It's the film we saw on TV the other night.

The clauses in this conversation identify which film star and which film Laura means. They are called identifying clauses.

ART GOLDING DIES

The actor Art Golding, who starred in films such as 'Tornado' and 'Iceberg', has died after a long illness. He was seventy-eight. Art Golding's most famous role was as the scientist in the film 'Supernova', which broke all box-office records.

The clauses in this report add information about Art Golding and about 'Supernova'. They are called adding clauses, or sometimes non-identifying clauses.

B Identifying clauses and adding clauses

IDENTIFYING

The man who lives next door to Melanie is rather strange.

The river which flows through Hereford is the Wye.

The picture which was damaged is worth thousands of pounds.

These clauses identify which thing the speaker is talking about. The clause who 'lives next door to Melanie' tells us which man. The clause 'which flows through Hereford' tells us which river. Without the relative clause the sentence would be incomplete. The man is rather strange makes sense only if we know which man. An identifying clause does not have commas around it.

Most relative clauses are identifying. We use them both in speech and in writing.

ADDING

Jake, who lives next door to Melanie, is rather strange.

The Wye (which flows through Hereford) is a beautiful river.

This famous picture - which was damaged during the war - is worth thousands of pounds.

These clauses add extra information about something which is already identified. The clause 'who lives next door to Melanie' adds information about Jake. But we can say the sentence on its own without the relative clause. Jake is rather strange makes sense because the name Jake identifies who we are talking about. An adding clause has commas around it. Instead of commas, we can use brackets ( ) or dashes —.

If the adding clause is at the end of the sentence, we need only one comma or dash.

That's Jake, who lives next door.

Adding clauses can be rather formal. We use them mainly in writing. They are common in news reports.

In speech we often use two short sentences.

Jake lives next door to Melanie. He's rather strange.