Relative clauses

Complement clauses modify verbs as in (3) and (4) and nouns as in (6); relative clauses modify nouns. In older descriptions, relative clauses are called adjective clauses, reflecting the fact that adjectives also modify nouns. Of course, in English they do not occur in the same position as adjectives, since adjectives typically precede the noun in a noun phrase while relative clauses follow it. Examples of relative clauses are given in (7).

In (7a), the relative clause which Mrs Dashwood accepted modifies the noun cottage; in (7b) the relative clause who saved Marianne modifies the noun gentleman; in (7c) the relative clause which Marianne was reading modifies the noun book; and in (7d) the relative clause that we liked modifies the noun building. In certain circumstances, the WH word or that can be omitted, as in The building we liked is in Thornton Lacey, with the relative clause we liked, or The book Marianne was reading contained poems by Cowper, with the relative clause Marianne was reading.

(The term ‘relative’ goes back to the Roman grammarians, who called the Latin equivalent of which, who and so on relative pronouns because they referred back to a noun. Refer derives from the Latin verb referre, a very irregular verb whose past participle passive is relatus, from which ‘related’ derives. Note that although the that clause in (7d) is called a relative clause, that is not a relative pronoun but a conjunction.)