Relative Clauses / Pronouns

Relative clauses begin with question words (e.g., who, which, where) and are often used to modify nouns and pronouns to
  1. identify people or things

    Example: The man who lives across my apartment is a teacher.

    The clause "who lives across my apartment" identifies and restricts the noun "man". Such relative clauses are called restrictive relative clauses.

  2. give additional information about people or things

    Example: Parents and children appreciate Ms Roger, who love her students.

    The clause "who love her students" provide more information about the noun "Ms Roger". Such relative clauses are called non-restrictive relative clauses.

    Note that comma(s) must be used with non-restrictive relative clauses.

The question words (e.g., who, which, where) are called relative pronouns.

People Things Places Possessions Reasons Time Examples
who 1 - - - - - Have you spoken to the people who live next door?
whom 2 - - - - - The student to whom I was assigned, was very intelligent but lazy.
whose - - - - - The police talked to the man whose nose was bleeding.
which - - - - - Here is a piece of cake which you might like.
where - - - - - Do you know a shop where I can buy boxing gloves?
when - - - - - I'll never forget the day when he punched me.
why - - - - - Do you know the reason why he punched me?
that - - - Do you have any detergent that can remove blood stains from my shirt?


1 "Who" usually refers to people, but may also refer to animals with names.
2 "Whom" is the object form of "who".

Relative Pronouns Quiz