English Grammar Exercises - Verbs and Tenses: Relative clauses

Exercise 1

Find and correct the mistake in each speech bubble.

a The man which I met is a lawyer.

b Ian, mother lives next door to me, is emigrating to South Africa.

c The rabbit hutch what I built is falling to pieces.

d The book, that you lent me is great.

e is that the girl you told me about her?

f The farm, who I lived in for nearly twenty years, has been sold.

g A corkscrew is a thing who you open bottles with.

h He’s the guy which sold me my house.

i Henry, which is a friend of my brother’s, is coming to the party.

j This is the translator who I met her in London.

Exercise 2

Write who, that, which, where or whose where necessary, Sometimes more than one answer is possible.

a Isn’t that the boy ……………… gave you the flowers?

b This village, ……………… John was brought up, is now a tourist attraction.

c The mobile phone, you promised to deliver yesterday, still hasn’t arrived.

d I really wanted the car ……………… you bought.

e What’s the name of that girl ……………… father is a vet?

Exercise 3

Choose the best option.

The man ^awho/which everyone was expecting finally arrived. He was wearing a dark suit ^b who/ that made him look twice the size he really was. He looked odd. Everybody turned and stared at him. His moustache, ^c where/which was red and curly, moved slightly every time he spoke. A young woman, ^d which/ whose face went white when she saw the man, suddenly fainted in a corner of the room. It was then that I began to understand! She was the woman ^e which/that he’d come to see. She was the Lady of Castle Doom.

Exercise 4

Write each pair of sentences as one sentence. Use defining and non-defining relative clauses.

a That’s the man. His car was vandalized.

………………………….

b The laboratory is usually locked. It’s a very big laboratory.

………………………….

c ‘The Liar’ is a good book. Stephen Fry wrote it.

………………………….

d He’s the man. Kate told you about him.

………………………….

e Thomas lives in Los Angeles. He is my cousin.

………………………….

Answers

Read the note to find out why.

a which who/no pronoun -> A, B

b Ian, mother Ian, whose mother -> C, B

c what that/which/no pronoun -> A, B

d The book, that The book (that) -> E, B

e you told me about her? you told me about? -> D

f who which -> C

g who that/which/no pronoun -> A, B

h which who/that -> A

i which who -> C

j I met her in London I met in London -> D

a who/that -> A

b where -> C

c which -> C

d that/which/no pronoun -> A, B

e whose -> A

a who d whose

b that e that

c which

a That’s the man whose car was vandalized.

b The laboratory, which is very big, is usually locked.

c ‘The Liar’, which Stephen Fry wrote, is a good book.

d He’s the man (that/who) Kate told you about.

e Thomas, who’s my cousin, lives in Los Angeles

Notes

This sentence includes a defining relative clause. Begin these clauses with who/that for people; that/which for objects; where for places; whose for possession.

You can leave out who, that, which, etc. in a defining relative clause that is the object of the sentence. You can’t leave it out in a defining relative clause that is the subject of the sentence. You can never leave it out of a non-defining relative clause.

This sentence includes a non-defining relative clause. Begin these clauses with who for people; which for objects; where for places; whose for possession.

Don’t use more than one subject or object pronoun (he, her, etc.) in a relative clause.

Use commas before and after non-defining relative clauses. Don’t use them before and after defining relative clauses.

Review

Relative clauses

Defining relative clauses

– You use defining relative clauses to add essential information to a sentence. The clause goes immediately after the noun it describes.

This is the man. This is the man who sold me the car.

(The clause answers the question ‘which man?’)

– You use relative pronouns (who, which, that, etc.) to introduce defining relative clauses. Use who or that for people; that or which for objects; where to talk about a place; whose to talk about possession.

He’s the man who/that owns the shop. Here’s the book that/which you lent me.

This is the place where I was born. He’s the man whose dog bit me.

– You can leave out who, that, which, etc. in a defining relative clause when the clause is the object of the sentence.

She’s the girl (that) I told you about. Here’s the book (that) you lent me.

You can’t leave it out in a defining relative clause when the clause is the subject of the sentence.

This is the man who got the job. Rome is the city where I was born.

You can never leave it out of a non-defining relative clause.

The fans, who were waiting anxiously, finally saw the rock star.

NOT The fans, who were waiting anxiously, finally saw the rock star.

– You don’t use more than one subject or object pronoun in a relative clause. The relative pronoun (who, which, etc.) replaces the subject or object pronouns (he, her, etc.). One pronoun is enough.

Jack’s the boy who won the prize. NOT Jack’s the boy who he won the prize.

Non-defining relative clauses

– You use non-defining relative clauses to add non-essential information to a sentence. The clause goes immediately after the noun it describes. If you removed the relative clause, the sentence would still make sense on its own.

David, who is a professor at the University of Barcelona, is a friend of mine.

Note that non-defining relative clauses are much more common in writing than they are in speech.

– You use relative pronouns (who, which, where, etc.) to introduce non-defining relative clauses. Use who for people; which for objects; where to talk about a place; whose to talk about possession.

Baddy, who’s my brother, trained as a lawyer.

Have/Get something done

Modal verbs