We speak to the factory workers who have won the lottery jackpot.
That's a sentence. It makes sense and can stand on its own. Within this sentence there are smaller units: clauses.
We speak to the factory workers who have won the lottery jackpot.
The first part of the sentence (in yellow) is called the independent clause because it can stand on its own (it would make sense if we put a full stop after the word 'workers'). The second part of the sentence (in green) is called the dependent clause because it doesn't make sense without the other part of the sentence.
So clauses are smaller units within the sentence. They can either be independent or dependent.
Relative clauses are always dependent clauses and we recognize them by the fact that they contain relative pronouns: who, whose, whom, that, which, where, when. Below is their usage:
Some more examples of relative clauses are here. Can you see how relative pronouns join two sentences together?
I met a woman. She speaks six languages.
I met a woman who speaks six languages.
Jack was wearing a hat. It was too big for him.
Jack was wearing a hat which/that was too big for him.
Look at the house. I grew up there.
Look at the house where I grew up.
I talked to a girl. I can't remember her name.
I talked to a girl whose name I can't remember.
The pronoun 'whom' might be quite troublesome, especially that you don't hear it very often in everyday speech. Below you have a link to a website that explains the use of 'whom' in more detail.
For more exercises on relative clauses, visit this website:
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