Relative clauses
who, which, that, whose, and when you can drop the pronoun.
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Relative clauses: worked examples
Five from the set, with the answer filled in and the rule that decides it. The remaining questions are in the answer key below.
- 01
The woman who lives next door is a nurse.
Here the pronoun is the subject of 'lives', so it cannot be left out.
- 02
My sister, who lives in Manchester, is coming to stay.
'that' is never used in a clause between commas.
- 03
The film (none) we watched last night was really disappointing.
The pronoun is the object of 'watched', so no word is needed at all.
- 04
The bus which goes to the airport leaves from stand 3.
'which' for things, and as the subject of 'goes' it cannot be dropped.
- 05
That's the student whose project won first prize.
'whose' shows possession: the project belongs to the student.
Answer key: all 24 questions
- 01The woman who lives next door is a nurse.
- 02My sister, who lives in Manchester, is coming to stay.
- 03The film (none) we watched last night was really disappointing.
- 04The bus which goes to the airport leaves from stand 3.
- 05That's the student whose project won first prize.
- 06This is the café where we first met.
- 07Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong today.
- 08The manager to whom I sent the complaint still hasn't replied.
- 09Her flight was delayed, which meant she missed the meeting.
- 10I still remember the day when we moved into this house.
- 11The people (none) I met on the course were all really friendly.
- 12She's the nicest person that I've ever worked with.
- 13We stayed in an old hotel whose windows looked out over the harbour.
- 14That's the reason why I didn't call you back.
- 15The museum, which opened in 1903, is closed for repairs.
- 16Is this the key (none) you were looking for?
- 17It's the only shop that sells fresh bread around here.
- 18Marc, whose father is a chef, does all the cooking at home.
- 19The village where she grew up has fewer than 200 people.
- 20The company for which she works has offices all over Europe.
- 21Summer is the season when most people take their holidays.
- 22The man who I spoke to at the station gave me directions.
- 23All that I want is a quiet weekend at home.
- 24The colleague (none) I share an office with never stops talking.
- Which vs thatThat introduces a clause that identifies which one you mean, and takes no commas: the report that we discussed.
- Who vs whom vs whoseAnswer the question with he or him.
- English relative clausesA relative clause adds information about a noun.
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