Online exercises with answers for pre-intermediate to advanced levels.
Replace 'that' with 'who' or 'which':
A soldier is someone that works in the army.
A soldier is someone who works in the army.
Complete sentences with 'that' if necessary. If the omission of the relative pronoun is possible, put 'that' in brackets:
The dog ate the cake that was on the table.
The question (that) you asked me was not fair.
Use 'that' or 'whose' to join sentences:
This is the man. I spoke to him.
This is the man that I spoke to.
Choose correct relative pronouns:
Can you see the car___ door is scratched? (which, whose)
Use relative pronouns and commas if necessary:
I saw a boy who ran out of your office.
My sister, who is a teacher, can speak five languages.
Join 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.
Relative clauses worksheet PDF:
Exercises with answers to download for free.
Grammar rules PDF:
Relative clauses rules PDF Grammar rules with examples to download for free.
English grammar PDF All PDF rules on e-grammar.org.
There are three types of relative clauses in English: defining, non-defining and connective.
We use these clauses to specify a noun or pronoun in the main clause. They 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 the relative clause, it is not clear what girl or picture we are talking about. They follow after the pronouns who, whom, which, that, whose. We do not use commas in this type of relative clauses.
Who/whom for persons
The man who/whom you called 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?
Whose 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.
(Whose is a possessive pronoun.)
Who vs. whom
In spoken English who is much more common that whom.
The man who I met in Paris is an architect.
This is the girl who I saw at the party.
Whom is very formal. It is always the object of a verb.
The man whom I met in Paris is an architect.
This is the girl whom I saw at the party.
That vs. who or which
That is used for persons and things and is less formal than who and which. It is the most common relative pronoun in spoken English.
This is the girl that I saw at the party.
This is the book that I wanted.
Omission of relative pronouns
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.)
Relative pronouns with prepositions
We use the pronouns with prepositions as follows.
The woman I got it from was Spanish.
The woman who/that I got it from was Spanish.
The woman from whom I got it was Spanish.
The last sentence is not very common in spoken English as it is quite formal.
These 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.
These 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.
We cannot write the defining clauses with commas, because they change the meaning of a sentence.
The passengers who fastened their seatbelts survived.
(Which passengers survived? Only the passengers 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.