❖ Unit 10 ❖ Brain Drain ❖ Grammar ❖

Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns (who, whom, which, that, whose, where, when) link two clauses to give more information about a noun.

The relative pronouns at a glance

Pronoun	Used for	Function
who	people	subject of the clause
whom	people (formal)	object of the clause
which	things, animals	subject or object
that	people / things	subject or object (informal)
whose	people / things	possession
where	places	place
when	time	time

Examples for each pronoun

Examples

who: The man who lives next door is a doctor.

whom: The lady whom I met yesterday is my new teacher.

which: The book which I bought is interesting.

that: The car that Tom drives is expensive. (replaces "which" or "who")

whose: The boy whose father is a lawyer is my friend.

where: Marrakech is the city where I was born.

when: 1956 is the year when Morocco gained independence.

How to combine two sentences

Identify the noun that is repeated in both sentences.
Choose the right relative pronoun based on what that noun is (person, thing, place…).
Replace the repeated word in the second sentence by the pronoun.
Join the two sentences together.

Example

(1) I know the woman. (2) The woman won the Nobel Prize.

→ Repeated noun: the woman (= a person, subject) → use who.

→ I know the woman who won the Nobel Prize.

Practice 1 — Fill in

Add the right relative pronoun

The hotel where we stayed last holiday was really expensive.
The man whom / that / who you met the other day is a manager.
The pop singer whose album is the best has come to Mawazine festival.
My uncle has a company which / that employs a large number of people.
Jane's brother, who works in Casablanca, hopes to be transferred to Marrakech.
Gad Elmaleh, who lives in France, is a Moroccan comedian.

Practice 2 — Fill in

Add the right relative pronoun

The children, whose families were killed in war, were taken to the refugee camps.
The United Nations is an organisation whose mission is to maintain peace in the world.
The UN official who / that was interviewed by CNN last week declined any responsibility.
Many projects which / that are financed by the UN aim at promoting development.
The lady whom / who Ban Ki-Moon appointed as his deputy is well qualified.

Defining vs Non-defining clauses

Defining (essential)

The information is needed to identify the noun.

No commas.

The man who lives next door is a doctor.

(Tells which man.)

Non-defining (extra info)

The information is extra; the noun is already clear.

Commas are used.

My father, who is 60 years old, is retired.

("That" is not used here.)

❖ Key Takeaways ❖

① Who/whom for people, which for things

"That" can replace both in defining clauses (informal).

② "Whose" shows possession

Works for people AND things: the woman whose son…, the company whose CEO…

③ Commas matter

With commas = non-defining (extra info). Without = defining (essential info).

❖ Exam tip

The exam often gives two sentences to join with a relative pronoun. Step 1: find the repeated noun. Step 2: identify if it's a person, thing, place, time or possession. Step 3: pick the right pronoun.