Relative

Pronouns
I bought a beautiful scarf.
It is pink.

• Look at the second sentence.

• The pronoun “it” refers to the
scarf.
• So we can join both sentences
together.
I bought a beautiful scarf.
which It is pink.

To join sentences
which have a common
noun, or to add
information, we use
relative pronouns.
Relative pronouns
Who Refers to people
e.g. Ana is someone who helps others.

Which Refers to things or animals

e.g. I adopted two pets which are lovely.

Whose Refers to possession

e.g. I have a friend whose mother is a fashion designer.
 Let’s do some exercises!

Complete with an appropriate

relative pronoun.
 Complete with a relative pronoun.
who – which – whose

whose mother lives next door won the

1. The boy ______
lottery.
which was a present from my father is
2. This ring _______
very valuable.
who
3. The man _______ works in our school is my uncle.
which is black is mine.
4. The dress _______
whose
5. The boy _______ father is a teacher forgot his
phone.
A relative pronoun can be
used to join two different
sentences together.
Let’s join the second sentence to the first one.

I bought a nice cell phone. It is pink.

which

I bought a nice cell phone

NOTE:
The relative clause always
comes after the noun it refers to.
 We want to join the second sentence to the
first one.

The woman is a model. She lives

lives next
next to
to me.
me
who

The woman is a model.

NOTE:
The relative clause always
comes after the noun it refers to.
Let’s do some exercises!

Join the sentences using a

relative pronoun.
Join the sentences with a relative pronoun.

1. Mary found a book. It was in an old box.

Mary found a book which was in an old box.

2. Joe met a nice girl. She has blonde hair.

Joe met a nice girl who has blonde hair.

3. Ms Miller wrote a best seller. She works in our school.

Ms Miller who works in our school wrote a best seller.

4. The photos are in that box. I took them during my last trip.
The photos which I took during my last trip are in that box.

5. This is the girl. Her name name is Jessie.

This is the girl whose name is Jessie.
 Relative pronouns
Who
e.g. Ana is someone that
who helps others.

Which
e.g. I adopted two pets which
that are lovely.

WHO or WHICH
can be replaced by THAT
 Complete with the relative pronoun.
who – which (or that) / whose
who/that had the accident.
1. This is the girl __________

which/that was really cool.

2. Yesterday I saw a jacket _________

which/that you gave me is great!

3. The book __________

whose
4. Peter, _________ father is an actor, lives next to me.

which/that is really beautiful.

5. Today I bought a necklace _________
Relative pronouns

WHO or WHICH
can only be replaced by THAT
if the clause is defining

What’s the
difference?
 Relative clauses
Non-defining relative clauses

• add extra information to the sentence

• need commas (,)

e.g. My uncle, who is 56, goes jogging every day.

“who is 56” – if we take the clause out of the

sentence, the sentence still makes sense.
 Relative clauses
Defining relative clauses

• add important information to the sentence

• no commas (,)

e.g. I’m going to wear the skirt that I bought in London.

The defining relative clause tells us which skirt. If

we took the clause out of the sentence, it wouldn’t
make sense.
Can you see the book Can you see the book,
which is yellow? which is yellow?

The Defining Relative The Non-Defining

Clause refers to one of Relative Clause gives
the books thereby, and in additional information
this way draws your about a particular thing.
attention to it. There are no other books
to refer to.
Choose the right sentence (defining or non-defining).

I have 3 brothers. One of my brothers lives in

London, but the others don’t.

1. My brother who lives in London has two children.

2. My brother, who lives in London, has two children.

This is a defining relative clause, so we can’t use

commas because the information is essential for the
meaning of the sentence. The defining relative clause
tells us which brother.
Choose the right sentence (defining or non-defining).

I only have one sister.

1. My sister who lives in Paris is a model.
2. My sister, who lives in Paris, is a model.

This is a non-defining relative clause, so we use

commas. It’s non-defining because it’s an extra
information about the sister, that we already know about.
Choose the right sentence (defining or non-defining).

All students left early. They all asked to leave early.

1. The students who asked to leave early left the room ten
minutes before the end of the lesson.

2. The students, who asked to leave early, left the room ten
minutes before the end of the lesson.

This is a non-defining relative clause, so we use

commas. We get extra information about the students,
because they all decided to leave early.
Choose the right sentence (defining or non-defining).

Only the students that asked to leave early, left

the room early.
1. The students who asked to leave early left the room ten
minutes before the end of the lesson.
2. The students, who asked to leave early, left the room ten
minutes before the end of the lesson.

This is a defining relative clause. The defining relative

clause tells us which students left early, because not all
the students left early.
Now open your book
on page 62.