RELATIVE CLAUSES:

WHO-WHICH-THAT-WHOSE-WHOM-
WHERE
The RELATIVE CLAUSE is a part of a sentence. It tells us which
person or thing the subject means. relative clause
E.g. The woman is a doctor. The woman
She lives next door. who lives next door is a doctor.
Sentence without the Relative Clause Sentence with the Relative Clause
We know a lot of people. We know a lot of people who live in Sri
They live in Sri Lanka. Lanka.
This cat belongs to him. This cat which is black belongs to him.
This cat is black.
The chair is perfect for this place. The chair that is elegant is perfect for this
The chair is elegant. place.

‘Who’ is used only for people. You may use ‘That’ for people too.
‘Which’ & ‘That’ are used for things. ‘Which’ is also used for
animals.
 WHO-WHICH-THAT: more examples
The boy is my son
That boy is tall.
Where is the cake?
The cake was on the table.
I like puppies.
I like furry puppies.
The man is a carpenter.
The man lives downstairs.
This knife will cut your finger.
This knife is very sharp.
The boy who is tall is my son.
The boy that is tall is my son.
Where is the cake that was on the table?
I like puppies which are furry.
The man who lives downstairs is a
carpenter.
This knife that is very sharp will cut your
finger. (or which)

WHAT = THE THING(S) THAT HAPPEN(S)/ED

E.g. The thing that happened was my fault.
What happened was my fault.
The things that happened in Sri Lanka could have been avoided.
What happened in Sri Lanka could have been avoided.
 WHOSE
We replace his / her / their with Whose in relative clauses.
His / Her / Their/your/our/my Whose
I saw the lady. I saw the lady whose car was stolen last
Her car was stolen last week. week.
This is his pencil. Whose pencil is this?
We see the group. We see the group whose behaviour is very
Their behaviour is very good. good.

WHOM
We use Whom when it is the object of the verb in relative clause. It is
followed by a Subject Pronoun (I, We, You, She…)
E.g. I like that person whom I met yesterday.
John thinks high of Mr. Silva whom he admires much.
The teacher whom they were waiting for came on time.
HOWEVER: it is quite common in spoken English to use WHO in
place of WHOM or to completely omit it altogether.
E.g. I like that person whom I met.
I like that person who I met. / I like that person I met.
WHERE
We use Where to talk about place(s) in relative clauses.
Place(s) Where
The restaurant was near his house. The restaurant where we ate last week was
We ate there last week. near his house.
I went to the town recently. I went to the town recently where I grew
I grew up there. up.
Can you show me the place to sleep? I’ll show you where you can sleep.

More examples:
• That's where my part came from.
• He went to the place where his flocks were feeding.
• That device can track where you are at any time
• Well, now we know where we are.
• We’ve reached the point where technology does
everything for us.