In this ESL grammar lesson, students read a short paragraph and then answer questions about the paragraphs using relative clauses.
ESL Grammar: What are Relative Clauses?
Relative clauses are dependent clauses that modify a noun or a pronoun. They usually begin with a relative pronoun such as “that,” “which,” or “who” and provide essential or non-essential information about the noun they follow.
Relative Pronouns: That, Which, Who
- That:
- Used for both people and things in defining relative clauses (essential information).
- Example: The book that you lent me was fascinating.
- Which:
- Used for things in non-defining relative clauses (non-essential information) and defining relative clauses.
- Example: The car, which is red, belongs to my neighbor.
- Who:
- Used for people in both defining and non-defining relative clauses.
- Example: The teacher who lives next door is very friendly.
The English grammar lesson below gives students a chance to use relative clauses to answer questions about specific people or animals that are mentioned in a paragraph. Our series of ESL grammar lessons on subjects and verbs introduce these concepts and reinforce them through helpful and instructive exercises.
This lesson is available for free download, and you can download many more English grammar lessons focusing on advanced aspects of English grammar (past continuous tense, present perfect tense, present perfect continuous tense, passive voice, embedded questions, relative clauses) in our comprehensive, intermediate- to advanced-level ESL grammar textbook Great, Great Grammar! (Book 3: Tenses and More!).
