Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns:
● “who”, “which”, “that”, “where” and “when” are all examples of relative pronouns.
● Introduce related information that describes a noun.
● Relative pronouns must agree with the noun they are describing and / or replacing.
● Each relative pronoun can only be used to refer to a specific type of thing.
● What each relative pronouns can correctly be used to refer to:
○ Who and whom: people only.
○ When: specific times or time periods only.
○ Where: places only.
○ Which: any noun other than a person.
○ That: any noun.
○ Whose: possessive, can be used for people or things.
● Which vs. that:
○ The grammatical explanation is that “which” introduces a non-essential clause,
meaning that it doesn’t define the noun it is describing.
○ “That” introduces an essential clause, meaning that it clarifies exactly which noun
the sentence is about.
■ I.e. 1: “My house, which I bought recently, is next to a lake.”
● “Which I bought recently” is further describing “my house”.
■ I.e. 2: “The house that I bought recently is next to a lake.”
● “That I bought recently” is specifying which house the sentence is
about.
● Where vs. in which:
○ “Where” can only be used to describe a place.
○ “In which” can only be used to describe media like books, movies, or music.
■ I.e. 1: “Didn’t you love the part of The Avengers in which the Hulk
punches Loki?”
Practice:
1. I talked to the girl __________________ car had broken down in front of the shop.
2. Mr. Richards, __________________ is a taxi driver, lives on the corner.
3. I live in a house in Norwich __________________ is East Anglia.
4. This is the girl __________________ comes from Spain.
5. That’s Peter, the boy ___________________ has just arrived at the airport.
6. Thank you very much for your e-mail __________________ was very interesting.
7. The man, ___________________ father is a professor, forgot his umbrella.
8. The children ___________________ shouted in the street are not from our school.
9. The car, ____________________ driver is a young man, is from Ireland.
 10. What did you do with the money ______________________ your mother lent you?

Additional Exercises:
1. The girl wants to study medicine. She came from India.

2. The dress has faded. It was bought last week.

3 The missing boy has been traced. The police were looking for him.

4. Stella is both pretty and intelligent. She will represent our college in the beauty contest.

5. The beaver is a native of Canada. It is a hardworking animal.

6. Charles won the tournament. He plays tennis every day.

7. The airplane was grounded. It had developed some engine trouble.

8. The dog lay in the gutter. It was hungry and exhausted.

9. The spike was sharp and pointed. It had been driven into the ground.

10. The girl was small and pretty. She stepped from the bus.