RELATIVE PRONOUNS

RELATIVE CLAUSES
 Relative pronouns are:
 Who (whom, whose)
 which
 that
 where
 when
 why
 ……..
 NOT what!
We use who – for people
which – for things

 The book is about a girl who runs away

from home.

 Where is the cheese which was in the

fridge?
In informal language we can use
that instead of who/which

 The book is about a girl that runs away

from home.

 Where is the cheese that was in the

fridge?
In some cases we can leave out
that

 The job (that) he got wasn`t very

interesting.

 A woman (whom/that) my sister knows

has just bought the house next door.
We can`t leave out who, which, what
in relative clauses with extra information
that is important

 Dorothy, who does my hair, has just

had a baby.

 I lent him “The Old Man and The

Sea”,which is really easy to read.

 NB! Here we can`t use that.

 Whose
 We say whose for possession (‘of who’)
 We only use whose after people to refer to
things that are theirs

 I know the boy whose goal is to fold

origami.

 We cannot omit whose!

 Whom
 Whom is generally used in formal contexts
 Whom is used for direct objects (people)

 To whom am I speaking?

 The person whom you are trying to reach

is not available.
 (Most of the time we would say ‘who,’ not
whom!)
 Where
 We use where for places

 This is the store where I bought that

dress.
 When
 We use when for time

 That was the day when I learned my

teacher was an alien.
 Why
 We use why to explain the reason

 The reason why I did it was because John

was annoying me.

 (Usually, it´s better to just make the

sentence shorter: ¨I did it because John
was annoying me.¨)
 Whose
 We use why to explain the reason

 The reason why I did it was because John

was annoying me.

 (Usually, it´s better to just make the

sentence shorter: ¨I did it because John
was annoying me.¨)
 Appositives (non-defining
relative clauses)
 To give extra information, put a comma
and start a new clause with a relative
pronoun. End with a comma and continue
the sentence.
 John is my friend.
 John is very smart.
 John, who is very smart, is my friend.
 Appositives (non-defining
relative clauses)
 We use which, when, who, or whose.
 We cannot say that.
 We cannot omit relative pronouns.