Level: beginner
The relative pronouns are:
| Subject | Object | Possessive |
|---|---|---|
| who | who/whom | whose |
| which | which | whose |
| that | that | - |
We use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses. Relative clauses tell us more about people and things:
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
This is the house which Jack built.
Marie Curie is the woman that discovered radium.
We use:
- who and whom for people
- which for things
- that for people or things.
Two kinds of relative clause
There are two kinds of relative clause:
1. We use relative clauses to make clear which person or thing we are talking about:
Marie Curie is the woman who discovered radium.
This is the house which Jack built.
In this kind of relative clause, we can use that instead of who or which:
Marie Curie is the woman that discovered radium.
This is the house that Jack built.
We can leave out the pronoun if it is the object of the relative clause:
This is the house
thatJack built. (that is the object of built)
- Relative pronouns 1
- Relative pronouns 2
| Be careful! |
|---|
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The relative pronoun is the subject/object of the relative clause, so we do not repeat the subject/object:
|
2. We also use relative clauses to give more information about a person, thing or situation:
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
We had fish and chips, which I always enjoy.
I met Rebecca in town yesterday, which was a nice surprise.
With this kind of relative clause, we use commas (,) to separate it from the rest of the sentence.
| Be careful! |
|---|
|
In this kind of relative clause, we cannot use that:
and we cannot leave out the pronoun: We had fish and chips, which I always enjoy. |
- Relative pronouns 3
- Relative pronouns 4
Level: intermediate
whose and whom
We use whose as the possessive form of who:
This is George, whose brother went to school with me.
We sometimes use whom as the object of a verb or preposition:
This is George, whom you met at our house last year.
(whom is the object of met)This is George’s brother, with whom I went to school.
(whom is the object of with)
but nowadays we normally use who:
This is George, who you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, who I went to school with.
- Relative pronouns 5
Relative pronouns with prepositions
When who(m) or which have a preposition, the preposition can come at the beginning of the clause:
I had an uncle in Germany, from who(m) I inherited a bit of money.
We bought a chainsaw, with which we cut up all the wood.
or at the end of the clause:
I had an uncle in Germany, who(m) I inherited a bit of money from.
We bought a chainsaw, which we cut all the wood up with.
But when that has a preposition, the preposition always comes at the end:
I didn't know the uncle that I inherited the money from.
We can't find the chainsaw that we cut all the wood up with.
- Relative pronouns 6
when and where
We can use when with times and where with places to make it clear which time or place we are talking about:
England won the World Cup in 1966. It was the year when we got married.
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day when the tsunami happened.Do you remember the place where we caught the train?
Stratford-upon-Avon is the town where Shakespeare was born.
We can leave out when:
England won the World Cup in 1966. It was the year we got married.
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day the tsunami happened.
We often use quantifiers and numbers with relative pronouns:
| all of which/whom | most of which/whom | many of which/whom |
| lots of which/whom | a few of which/whom | none of which/whom |
| one of which/whom | two of which/whom | etc. |
She has three brothers, two of whom are in the army.
I read three books last week, one of which I really enjoyed.
There were some good programmes on the radio, none of which I listened to.
Hello again Ahmeds230,
I'm afriad I don't know which example you are referring to now as there have been several different versions of the sentence.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Ahmeds230,
After a preposition ('to') you need to use an object. In this case, that means either a pronoun ('whom') or a noun. You could say 'whose house', for example, but not 'whose' on its own.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmeds230,
Yes, that sentence is fine. Now you are talking about a person and using a relative pronoun, rather than a relative adverb like where. As the pronoun is the object of a preposition (to), whom is correct.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Shortie Dork,
The correct form here is 'whose'.
It is possible to use 'whom' in a relative clause when the pronoun is the object. However, in this example 'whose' is not a pronoun but an adjective modifying the noun 'car'.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
We would use 'who' in this case, not whom.
Prepositions are followed by objects, which would suggest that the object pronoun is possible here. However, in this sentence the entire clause ['who will win the match'] is the object rather than the pronoun. Within the clause, the pronoun is the subject of the verb, so 'who' is used.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
They all mean the same thing. The word order in 3 is not correct in standard British English, but anyone would understand it and I expect you would hear many non-native speakers use this form.
If I were saying this, I'd probably say 'I don't know who the person at the door is' or 'I don't know who's at the door'.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello quickspot,
That sentence is fine.
Generally, we use who when we are talking about people and which when we are talking about things. However, when we use 'one' we do not use who:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello quickspot,
You are right on both points. 1 is not a complete sentence and in 2, 'which' should not be used.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
These sentences could be correct, but in most cases the sentence would probably be without commas: 'The man who I borrowed money from was helpful'. It depends on whether you're using the phrase 'who I borrowed money from' to specify which man you're talking about.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Arjun Yadav,
There is a slight difference in meaning and form, though in many contexts you could use either.
In terms of form, most of can be used with countable or uncountable nouns; many of can only be used with countable nouns; for uncountable nouns we would use much of.
In terms of meaning, most of means the majority of. In other words, most of means clearly more than half.
Many of is a little less specific. It simply means that the speaker sees the number as large. It does not necessarily mean that it is more than 50%, though it most often will be.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Risa warysha,
Like you, I would use a different pronoun here, like 'that' but not 'who'. Strictly speaking, it's not correct to use 'who' here. I'm afraid I don't know why the writer used it.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello willleong,
The first is correct.
With a couple of commas around the non-defining relative clause ('Mr. Chan, who is preparing a banquet for us, is the chef.'), the second one is also correct. But it's not correct without the commas.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Nimispencer,
No, I'm afraid that's not correct. The relative pronoun 'where' replaces a preposition + 'which'. In this case, you have the verb 'attend', which is not followed by a preposition, and so it's not correct to use 'where'. What I'd recommend here is 'The school the local children attended was shut down ...'
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Arjun Yadav,
No, where can be an adverb or a conjunction. In certain phrases it can also be a noun.
Online dictionaries will include this information as part of each entry:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/where
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello nbu2316,
In your first example the relative clause is a defining relative clause and refers back to 'stages', as you say. The sentence is rather awkward, however, and does not appear to be particularly well written in my view.
In your second example the relative clause is non-defining and refers back to 'several different methods of instruction'. The relative pronoun is the object of the preposition 'of' within the clause, but the phrase 'all of which' is the subject in the relative clause.
You can read a liitle about phrases such as 'all of which' in the second point under Overview on the relevant wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_relative_clauses
Your third example contains a non-defining relative clause which refers back to 'case study', as you say. The relative pronoun 'who' is the subject within the relative clause.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again nbu2316,
The phrase 'that is' here does not introduce a relative clause. It's a variant on the phrase 'that is to say', which means something like 'in other words'. It's a lexical device used to introduce a paraphrase or a clarification.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello phong,
The reason a comma is used in your first example is that the construction beginning 'from whom' is a non-defining relative clause. In other words, it adds extra information but does not identify the subject (uncle).
If the sentence did not have a comma it would suggest that you have several uncles in Germany and are identifying which uncle you are talking about.
We would not use the here as the speaker is clearly introducing their uncle for the first time.
In your second example, the is used because the speaker has clearly spoken about the uncle before. Your first mention would be to let the listener know you have an uncle in Germany; after than you might tell them that you didn't know that uncle.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi SonuKumar,
Yes, the underlined part is a relative clause. But, it's a non-defining relative clause (see point 2, above, and this page for more explanation and examples. It's different from the other type, defining relative clauses, described in point 1, above).
For this type of relative clause, that cannot be used instead of which.
Both the sentences above are correct. But in these sentences, that is a subject pronoun (not a relative pronoun like which).
Yes! The corrections you suggested are right. I've made the corrections in the sentences above. Here again, in the first sentence there is a non-defining relative clause: which is why I like her. Notice that there must be a comma before a non-defining relative clause.
You're right that and is needed in the second sentence. In the first one, it's correct if the comma is added (to make the correct structure for the non-defining relative clause, underlined).
Does that make sense?
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Anisha00329,
I'll try to answer your questions in turn.
I hope that helps!
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Natavan Gojayeva,
Yes, in moden usage of British English, who is often used instead of whom. Here are some examples to compare:
1 and 2 are traditionally regarded as correct. In some varieties of English, it's not recommended to end a sentence with a preposition, so 1 and 3 would be regarded as incorrect. Version 3 uses who instead of whom (which is traditionally incorrect), but this would be the most commonly used version (in British English, at least) and few people would consider it an error. Speakers would only use 1 and 2 if they were making a special effort to speak correctly.
As you can see, it's a bit complicated :)
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Natavan Gojayeva,
OK, I see now. I agree with the Cambridge book you mentioned, and that is what is traditionally regarded as correct.
But, we can also consider how language is used in real life, which does not always follow what is traditionally regarded as correct. The examples above using who(m) are a description of what people actually say (in speaking, especially), even though it might be considered incorrect.
So, it's good to be aware of the "correct" forms if you are taking an exam, or writing or speaking in a situation where correctness is important. But in everyday, casual conversation, all the forms described above are acceptable.
I hope I've explained it more clearly now?
Best wishes,
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello magnuslin,
The pronoun she requires a referent but that does not mean that it cannot be used in an independent clause. The referent can be in a different sentence, even a sentence which another person said, or it can be something extra-linguistic such as a picture of a person which is visible to the speakers.
More fundamentally, a sentence does not have to make sense to be grammatical. You can create perfectly grammatical sentences which make no sense at all.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kangmingoon,
Yes, that sentence is correct.
Well done!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team