Relative

RELATIVE CLAUSES

For a start, let's analyse the relevant elements we have to bear in mind when dealing with the relative clauses:

The boy who came to the party studied with me at the elementary school.

Main clause: The boy studied with me at the elementary school.        Relative clause: who came to the party

Antecedent: The boy             Relative pronoun: who

Why do we use the relative clauses? We use them either to give essential information about the antecedent (Defining Relative Clauses) or just some extra information (Non-defining Relative Clauses).

Another important thing about relative clauses is the connection you have between the antecedent and the relative clause because that will affect the kind of relative pronoun you are going to need. It could be subject, object, there could be a connection of possession...

Defining Relative Clauses

This kind of relative clauses is essential to the understanding of the message, so you can never omit them. Therefore, the intonation is rising till the end of the relative clause.

- We use the relative pronoun WHO (or THAT) when the antecedent is a person and is the subject or object of the relative clause.

The boy	who / that	came to the party	studied with me at the elementary school.
		you saw at the party
		she was dancing with at the party

- We use the relative pronoun WHICH (or THAT) when the antecedent is an animal or a thing and is the subject or object of the relative clause.

The dog	which / that	barked in the street	belongs to my uncle.
		you saw in the street
		she was playing with

You can omit the relative pronoun when it is not the subject of the relative clause (The boy you saw at the party... //  The dog you saw in the street...) and pay attention to the interesting use and position of prepositions (El perro con el que ella jugaba...). 

- WHOSE (connection of possession)   

That's the man whose wife is waiting for the bus. (His wife is waiting for the bus.) 

- WHERE (Adverbial of place). It can be substituted by THAT/WHICH + preposition.         

We visited the church where you got married // the church that you got married at. (you got married there / in that church)