Relative clauses

See also PDF exercises below.

Defining relative clauses:

Exercise 1 Replace 'that' with 'who' or 'which':
A soldier is someone that works in the army.
A soldier is someone ___ works in the army.

Exercise 2 Complete sentences with 'that' if necessary. If the omission of the relative pronoun is possible, put 'that' in brackets:
The dog ate the cake ___ was on the table.
The dog ate the cake that was on the table.

The question ___ you asked me was not fair.
The question (that) you asked me was not fair.

Exercise 3 | Exercise 4 Use 'that' or 'whose' to join sentences:
Can you see the car? Its door is scratched.
Can you see the car___ door is scratched?

She found the bag. It belonged to her.
She found the bag ___ belonged to her.

Defining + non-defining relative clauses:

Exercise 5 Complete defining and non-defining relative clauses with 'that', 'who' or 'which':
I saw a boy who ran out of your office.
I saw a boy ___ ran out of your office.

My neighbour is 70 now. He is a nice person.
My neighbour, ___ is 70 now, is a nice person.

Exercise 6 Use relative pronouns and commas if necessary:
My sister ___ can speak five languages. (be a teacher)
My sister, who is a teacher, can speak five languages.

Exercise 7 Complete sentences with 'who', 'which' or 'whose' and use commas if necessary:
These are the people. They live next door.
These are the people who live next door.

My boyfriend is 22. He comes from York.
My boyfriend, who is 22, comes from York.

PDF exercises (worksheets with answers):

Relative clauses worksheet PDF The man who met us... My car, which is over there... (who, which, that, whose)

Printable grammar rules:

Printable English grammar PDF to download for free.

Defining relative clauses specify a noun or pronoun in the main clause and are necessary if we want to understand the meaning of a sentence.
I saw the girl who was outside our house. They wanted the picture that cost two pounds.

If we omit them, it is not clear what girl or picture we are talking about. They follow after the pronouns who, which, that, whose and whom. We do not write them with commas.

Who for persons
The man who called you has just arrived.

Which for things
This is the book which I wanted.

That for persons and things
Are you the boy that lives next door?
Can you see the tree that has no leaves?

That is less formal than who or which.

Who vs whom

Whom is the object of a verb. We use it for persons. The meaning is similar to who.
The man whom I met yesterday...
This is the girl whom I saw at the party.
Whom is very formal. In spoken English who or that are much more common.
The man who I met... The man that I met...
This is the girl who I saw... This is the girl that I saw...

We can also leave out the pronoun. It is the most usual form.
The man I met... This is the girl I met...

If the subject in the main clause is different from the subject in the defining relative clause, we normally leave out the pronoun.
The student you saw in Oxford is my neighbour. (The subjects are the student and you.)
The bike she borrowed belongs to me. (The subjects are the bike and she.)

Be careful
If the subjects in both parts of a sentence are the same, we cannot omit the pronoun, because it becomes the subject of the clause.
The driver who took you to school is from York. The pen that is on the desk is new.
There is only one subject in each sentence - the driver and the pen. If we leave out the subject, it will not be clear what we mean.
Wrong: The driver took you to school is from York. (This sentence does not make any sense.)

Whose is a possessive pronoun for persons and things.
It is a story about a boy whose parents got divorced.
The river whose bridge is in front of us is called the Cam.

Relative pronouns with prepositions

We use the pronouns with prepositions as follows.
The man I got it from...
The man who/that I got it from...
The man from whom I got it...
The last sentence is not very common in spoken English as it is quite formal.

Non-defining relative clauses only describe a preceding noun or pronoun (add some information about them), but do not specify them. They must be written with commas.
My father, who is 65 now, still works.
His car, which cost nearly 20,000 pounds, is broken.
If we leave them out (My father still works. His car is broken.), the sentences remain grammatically correct and we know what father or car we are talking about. The only effect is that there is less information in the sentences.

More examples
I gave it to Peter, who is my close friend.
Ann, whom I admire, is not right in this case.
Their garden, which is near here, looks beautiful.
Pam, whose children go to school, is not so busy.

Such sentences are quite formal and are typical of written English. In spoken English we prefer less formal structures.
Written English: My father, who is 65 now, still works.
Spoken English: My father is 65 now and still works.
Written English: Their garden, which is near here, looks beautiful.
Spoken English: Their garden is near here. It looks beautiful.

In informal English we use who instead of whom.
Formal: Sam, whom I know quite well, would be a good husband.
Informal: Sam, who I know quite well, would be a good husband.

The connective relative clauses do not specify or describe the preceding nouns or pronouns, but only develop the story.
I gave the letter to James, who sent it to London.
She passed me the salt, which fell on the floor.
Their function is different, but the rules are the same as with the non-defining clauses. We make them with the pronouns who, whom, whose, which and write them with commas.

Remember
We cannot write the defining clauses with commas, because they change the meaning of a sentence. Compare the following sentences.
The passengers who fastened their seatbelts survived. (Which passengers survived? Only the pasengers wearing the seatbelts.)
The passengers, who fastened their seatbelts, survived. (Because all the passengers were wearing their seatbelts, they survived.)
The students who did all the exercises succeeded. (Which students succeeded? Only the students doing all the exercises.)
The students, who did all the exercises, succeeded. (All students succeeded. Why? Because they did all the exercises.)
In spoken English we make pauses in sentences instead of commas.