Interactive Grammar: Relative Clauses quiz

Defining (Restrictive) Clauses

Give essential information, no commas. If you remove the clause, the meaning changes or is incomplete.

• — The man who lives next door is a doctor.
• — The book that I borrowed was very interesting.

Non-Defining (Non-Restrictive) Clauses

Give extra, non-essential information, always with commas. If you remove the clause, the meaning remains complete.

• — My sister, who lives in Canada, is visiting.
• — The book, which I borrowed yesterday, was very interesting.

Whose, Where, When

Other relative pronouns show possession (whose), place (where), or time (when).

• — The house whose roof is red is mine.
• — This is the park where we used to play.
• — I remember the day when we first met.

Omitting the Pronoun (Object Relatives)

You can omit who, which, or that when it is the object of the clause — common in speech and informal writing.

• — The book (that) I read was excellent.
• — The song (that) I like → The song I like.

The man that is standing there is my uncle.

The man who is standing there is my uncle.

Use who for people rather than that, especially in more formal or careful writing.

This is the book, which I bought yesterday.

This is the book that I bought yesterday.

This is a defining clause (it identifies which book) — no comma, and that or which both work, but a comma before a defining clause is wrong.

Do you know the girl which won the prize?

Do you know the girl who won the prize?

Which cannot refer to people — use who instead.

The person which I spoke to was kind.

The person who/whom I spoke to was kind.

Which is only for things, never for people — use who or whom.