What Are Relative Clauses?
To get the idea of relative clauses, the easiest way is to take a look at these two sentences: 1) My husband who works in London is a plumber 2) People, who leave their mobile phones on in the theatre, should be thrown out. If you can see what’s wrong with them, you know how to use relative clauses. If you can’t, try reading them aloud, paying attention to the commas. If you leave these sentences exactly as they are, you are actually saying that 1) I have more than one husband and 2)ALL people leave their phones on in theatres (and therefore should be thrown out.) 1) Should be “My husband, who works in London, is a plumber.” The commas show that “who works in London” is a non-defining relative clause: it provides extra information but doesn’t define the sentence. 2) Should be “People who leave their phones on in the theatre should be thrown out.” This is a defining relative clause, which means that “who leave their phones on ” is not extra information but the whole point of the sentenc
