Relative (Adjective) Clauses
What Is It?
A relative (adjective) clause modifies a noun and starts with a relative pronoun (who, which, that, whose, where): NP + relative + S + V.
Why Use Relative Clauses?
- Precision — identifies or adds info without a new sentence.
- Compression — packs details tight.
- Cohesion — links ideas and reduces repetition.
When to Choose Relative Clauses
API docs (“Endpoints that return JSON”), user stories, release notes.
Forming Relative-Clause Sentences
| Type | Formula | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Defining | N + that/who/which + S + V | “Services that log errors alert SRE.” |
| Non-defining | N, which/who + S + V, | “Redis, which caches data, sped up queries.” |
| Possessive | N + whose + N + V | “Teams whose SLAs slipped got paged.” |
| Adverbial where/when | N + where/when + S + V | “The zone where latency drops is eu-central.” |
Tips for Writing with Relative Clauses
- Omit that judiciously (“The repo [that] we forked”).
- Use commas for non-defining clauses.
- Avoid stacking multiple relatives on one noun.
- Place clause immediately after noun to prevent ambiguity.
Exceptions & Nuances
In restrictive clauses, that is preferred for things in US English; which requires a comma. Avoid “the fact that” clutter.