Uses of Relative Clause in IELTS Writing

Despite the fact that IELTS does not have a separate grammar section, your command of English grammar is critical to achieving a high score. In the IELTS Writing and Speaking modules, one of the four areas on which you will be evaluated is grammar. Examiners will assess your grammatical range (ability to use a variety of simple and sophisticated grammatical structures) as well as your correctness (whether your language has errors). Because employing a variety of structures correctly will help you get a better score on the IELTS, this Grammar for IELTS series will go through some of the more complicated grammatical structures you can utilize. We'll examine relative clauses today.

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What are Relative Clauses, and do we use them?

Relative clauses are used to provide more information about persons or things, as well as to make it obvious who or what we are speaking or writing about. So instead of stating, "I live in London," say, "I live in London." I enjoy living in London; in fact, we could say that I enjoy living in London.

A clause is just a sentence, consisting of a set of words that includes a verb. Relative clauses are grammatical constructs that you must employ in your IELTS writing and speaking tests.

We use relative pronouns (who, that, which, why, etc.) to link the noun we are talking about to the relative clause.

Relative Pronouns

We use who or whom for people, which for things, & that for people or things. Where and when are used for places and time nouns and whose is possessive. The relative pronoun can be the subject or object of the sentence.

To introduce relative clauses, we use the following relative pronouns:

The Relative Clauses

A relative clause might be either defining or non-defining.

Defined Relative Clauses

Relative clauses with definitions inform us of the noun we're talking about. Commas are not used to define relative clauses.

WHO, WHOM, & THAT for PEOPLE

1. Alexander Fleming is the person who/that discovered penicillin – identifies the exact person who made the discovery.
2. It was the manager who made the decision – identifies the person who made the decision.
3. I’m meeting the lady with whom I discussed football yesterday -identifies which lady I’d like to meet.

WHICH or THAT for THINGS

1. I love looking at the paintings which hang in the Tate Gallery in London – identifying which paintings I am talking about.
2. I was a little confused & don't know whether that was professionalism or pure amateurism.
3. He pointed out that the university's hostels are run as a separate and independent businesses.

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WHY for REASONS

1. Too much cost was why the government have postponed the project.
2. There are a hundred reasons why I don’t want to go.

WHERE for PLACES

We use where when we want to make it clear exactly which place we are talking about:

1. London is the city where I was born.
2. That is the pub where I met my wife.

WHEN for TIMES

We use when to be clear about a time:

1. 2006 was the year when I graduated from university.
2. Do you remember the time when we stayed up all night playing guitar?

Omitting the Relative Pronoun– Defining

Depending on the phrase structure, the relative pronoun can be deleted to make your sentence more concise.

When there is a continuous verb, the subject pronoun can be deleted, or the bare infinitive verb can be changed to a continuous verb.

• I love to look at the paintings hanging in the Tate Gallery – (I love to look at the paintings which hang in the Tate Gallery).
• I’m meeting the lady I discussed football with yesterday – I’m meeting the lady with whom I discussed football yesterday.

The object pronoun is often omitted.

• I prefer the first record (that) they released.
• She liked the car (that) I had bought.

When is also often omitted, especially in spoken English.

• 2006 was the year (when) I graduated from university
• Do you remember the time (when) we stayed up all night talking?

Where is frequently omitted and the statement is ended with a preposition in colloquial spoken English. While this may be acceptable in regular spoken English, it is not considered proper English and is not appropriate for IELTS Speaking or Writing assessments.

• London is the city I live in – (London is the city where I live)
• This is the pub I often go to – (This is the pub where I often go)

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Non-Defining Relative Clauses

Relative clauses that do not define the word provide us with additional information. Although the additional knowledge is interesting and important, we do not require it to comprehend the phrase. It's just extra data.

There are a few considerations to keep in mind while using non-defining clauses:

1. In a non-defining relative phrase, the relative pronoun cannot be employed as a relative pronoun.
2. In non-defining relative clauses, commas are always used to provide further information.

Some examples of non-defining clauses:

1. I live in London, which has a lot of wonderful museums – adds extra interesting information about London but doesn’t change the basic information that I live in London.
2. One of the candidates, whoever is chosen, will return tomorrow to be given the job.
3. I love listening to music, which I find relaxing – Add extra information about why I love listening to music but doesn’t affect the basic information that I love listening to music.
4. My brother, who is a pianist, loves to talk about music.
5. John, who is 56, has just retired.
6. Nottingham, where I studied at the university, is an ancient city in the Midlands of England.

Omitting the Relative Pronoun – Non-Defining

We can omit the relative pronoun in non-defining sentences only when the subject pronoun (who, that, etc.) is used with be.

1. I’m traveling to Glasgow, (which is) the largest seaport in Scotland.
2. My brother, (who is) a pianist, loves to talk about music.