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定语从句是英语里最为重要的语法项目之一，因为当要表达复杂的意思时，往往都要借助于定语从句来完成，即要用定语从句来修饰某个名词或名词短语。比如当我们说“我不喜欢懒人”，这时只需要用一个形容词 lazy 来作定语就可以。这句话可以这样说：
1 I don't like lazy people.
但是，如果要表达稍微复杂一点的意思，比如说“我不喜欢不守信用的人”，这时，简单地用形容词作定语就无能为力了，就要借助于 一个句子来修饰名词 ，用作名词的定语，对名词进行限制。这句话可以这样说：
2 I don't like people who never keep their word .
对于这两个例句，我们比较分析如下：
妙语点睛
这里， lazy 是作定语修饰 people ，而 who never keep their word 也是作定语修饰 people ，前者只是单个的形容词，而后者是一个有着完整主谓结构的句子，故称后者为定语从句，即用作定语功能的从句。说它是“从句”，因为这句话有主句， I don't like people 这是这句话的核心意思。
通过比较这两个例句，读者应该知道定语从句的作用了。下面将讨论定语从句的两个重要概念： 先行词 和 关系词 。
对于定语从句，一定要掌握先行词和关系词这两个重要概念，因为定语从句的核心内容就是围绕着先行词和关系词展开的。
被定语从句所修饰的对象称为先行词。上一节例句中的 people 即为先行词。
重复指代先行词、起连接主句和从句的作用，并且在定语从句中充当一定成分的连接词称为关系词。上一节例句 2 中的 who 即为关系词。关系词有两个作用：
1. 代词的作用 ：重复指代先行词并且在定语从句中充当一定成分，如上一节例句 2 中的 who 指代 people 并且作从句的主语；
2. 连接作用 ：即连接主句和从句，如上一节例句 2 中的 who 起着连接主句 I don't like people 和从句 who never keep their word 的作用。
接下来的各节内容都是围绕先行词和关系词展开的。因此，首先必须能够熟练判断先行词和关系词。请做下面的练习。
Exercise 3.1
请找出下列短文中的定语从句，并指明先行词和关系词。
Passage 1:
Chris: Do you have a date for the party yet?
Kim: Actually, I don't. Do you think you could help me find one?
Chris: Hmm. What kind of guys do you like?
Kim: Oh, I like guys who aren't too serious and who have a good sense of humor. You know,...like you.
Chris: OK. What else?
Kim: Well, I'd prefer someone who I have something in common with — who I can talk to easily.
Chris: I think I know just the guy for you. Bob Branson. Do you know him?
Kim: No, I don't think so.
Chris: Let me arrange for you to meet him, and you can tell me what you think.
Passage 2:
Friendship is a very difficult thing. It is hard to handle. It creates many different problems. In fact I would say that friendship is as hard to handle as love is, or even marriage. Of course I am not talking about easy-come-easy-go friendship. I'm talking about friends who care deeply about each other, who support each other, who make life worth living. I'm talking about friends who you can share almost everything with.
Passage 3:
Beauty means this to one and that to the other. And yet when anyone of us has seen that which to him is beautiful he has known an emotion which is in every case the same in kind.
A ship in sail, a blooming flower, a town at night, a lovely poem, leaf shadows, a child's grace, the starry skies, apple trees in spring — the thought of beauty — these are the drops of rain that keep the human spirit from death by draught. They are a stealing and silent refreshment that we perhaps do not think about but which goes on all the time. Beauty is the smile on the earth's face, open to all, and needs but the eyes to see, mood to understand.