Relative Clauses

• A relative clause is a dependent clause that provides additional information about a noun or pronoun in the main clause.
• It begins with a relative pronoun: who (for people), whom (for people as objects), whose (for possession), which (for things/animals), or that (for people/things in defining clauses).
• There are two types: Defining relative clauses (essential to meaning, no commas) and Non-defining relative clauses (extra information, with commas).
• Defining clauses identify which specific person or thing we are talking about, while non-defining clauses add bonus information about something already identified.
• The choice of relative pronoun depends on whether you're referring to people or things, and the grammatical function within the clause.

• The choice of relative pronoun follows specific patterns.
• Use 'who' for people as subjects and 'whom' for people as objects (though 'who' is acceptable in informal contexts).
• Use 'which' for things and animals.
• 'That' can replace 'who' or 'which' in defining clauses but never in non-defining clauses.
• 'Whose' shows possession for both people and things.
• In defining clauses, you can often omit the relative pronoun when it functions as the object (e.g., "The book I read" instead of "The book that I read").
• When using prepositions with relative clauses, formal writing places the preposition at the beginning (with whom, for which), while informal usage places it at the end.
• These patterns are crucial for IELTS writing tasks requiring formal register.

Several exceptions and special cases exist in relative clause usage. With quantifiers (all, some, many, none, both), use 'of which/whom' structure (e.g., "five of whom were students"). After superlatives, ordinal numbers (first, second, last), and 'only', prefer 'that' over 'which' in defining clauses.

When the relative pronoun is the object in a defining clause, it can be omitted entirely ("The film [that] I watched"). Relative adverbs 'where' (place), 'when' (time), and 'why' (reason) can replace 'which/that + preposition' combinations. In formal writing, avoid ending sentences with prepositions in relative clauses.

These exceptions frequently appear in IELTS reading passages and academic writing tasks, so recognition is essential.

• Bengali speakers commonly make several errors with relative clauses.
• First, they confuse defining and non-defining clauses, incorrectly placing or omitting commas, which changes meaning significantly.
• Second, because Bengali uses the same construction for people and things, learners mix up 'who' and 'which'.
• Third, many add redundant pronouns ("The man who he lives...") due to Bengali sentence structure influence.
• Fourth, using 'that' in non-defining clauses is a frequent mistake.
• Fifth, learners often misplace prepositions or use incorrect relative pronouns after prepositions.
• In IELTS Writing, these errors reduce grammar scores.
• Remember: defining clauses (no commas) restrict meaning, non-defining clauses (with commas) add extra information.
• Always check if information is essential or supplementary before deciding on punctuation and relative pronoun choice.