Defining Relative Clauses
Clauses that tell you which one. No commas, "that" is fine, and sometimes you can leave the pronoun out.
Watch Pivee explain thisඅපිට ආදරේ කෙනෙක්ටයි අපි ආදරේ කරන්න ඕනෙ
Watch Pivee explain thisමට මගේ ගර්ල්ෆ්රෙන්ඩ්ගෙන් ලැබුණු ලියුම්defining relative clause එකකින් කියවෙන්නේ අපි කතා කරන්නේ කොයි කෙනා ගැනද, කොයි දේ ගැනද කියලා. ඒක අයින් කළොත් වාක්යයේ තේරුම නැති වෙනවා. කොමා දාන්නේ නෑ. who / which වෙනුවට that පාවිච්චි කරන්නත් පුළුවන්.
Which one?
- Kids who don't like chocolate are hard to find. 🍫
- An elephant is an animal that lives in hot countries.
- Sri Lanka is a country where the sun shines all year.
- They live in a house whose roof leaks.
The words
| People | Things | |
|---|---|---|
| subject (does the action) | who / that | which / that |
| object (receives the action) | who / that / (nothing) | which / that / (nothing) |
| belonging | whose | whose |
You'll also see whom for people as an object. It's very formal, mostly in writing: the man whom I met. In everyday English, use who or that.
that
In everyday English, that works for people and things in defining clauses. It's the most common choice when you speak.
that
- The kottu that I ordered was delicious.
- The man that came with her has left.
After something, anything, everything, nothing, all and superlatives, we usually use that (not which):
that after these words
- There's something (that) you should know.
- It was the best film (that) I've ever seen.
- I believe everything (that) you say.
Leaving the word out
If the word (who / which / that) is the object, you can leave it out. This is very common in speech.
How to tell: if there's another subject right after it, it's an object.
Object: you can leave it out
- The phone (that) I bought is great.'I' is the subject
- Tell me about the person (who) you love.'you' is the subject
Subject: you must keep it
- The woman who spoke at the meeting was brilliant.
Quick check
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I have a friend speaks five languages.
This is the best hopper I've ever eaten.
The girl sits next to me is from Jaffna.
Have you seen the bag that ?
That's the man car broke down on the expressway.
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