General English Level 5 GELEV5 Unit 02 Topic 04.doc  LANGUAGE FOCUS 03 Relative clauses Look at these sentences from the article. Whenever the timber industry clear fells a forest that has stood for a thousand years, it is gone forever. The large companies who control the industry use machines rather than people. Melinda Watson, who is the leader of the National Green Party, writes about why we should save our forests. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was walking through a magnificent old forest, which was full of all kinds of animals and birds. Around me, trees, which were hundreds of years old, reached high into the sky. These trees protected thousands of other plants that were growing there. We call clauses beginning with who, which and that relative clauses. When the relative clause is about a person we use who. When the relative clause is about a thing we use which or that. Who, which and that are relative pronouns. Relative pronouns act as the subject or object of the verb in a relative clause. Examples It was a beautiful sunny day and I was walking through a magnificent old forest. The forest was full of all kinds of animals and birds. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was walking through a magnificent old forest, which was full of all kinds of animals and birds. Types of relative clauses There are two types of relative clauses. Defining relative clauses A defining relative clause identifies exactly which person or thing we are talking about. Examples …a forest that has stood for a thousand years is gone forever. The large companies who control the industry use machines rather than people. 72 QUESTLANGUAGE