Relative Pronouns Worksheet for Classes 5 and 6
Relative pronouns are words like who, whom, that and which.
Who and whom
Who and whom are used to refer to people. Who acts as the subject of the verb in the relative clause. Whom acts as the object of the verb in the relative clause.
- This is the girl. She won the first prize.
We can combine these two clauses into one using the relative pronoun who.
- This is the girl who won the first prize. (NOT This is the girl who she won the first prize.)
Here the relative pronoun acts as the subject of the relative clause.
- There she met a young engineer. She married him years later.
We can combine these two clauses using the relative pronoun whom.
- There she met a young engineer whom she married years later. (NOT There she met a young engineer whom she married him years later.)
As you can see, here the relative pronoun ‘whom’ replaces the object pronoun ‘him’.
‘Who’ is also possible in the above sentence in an informal style.
- There she met a young engineer who she married years later.
Which is used to refer to things.
- I have bought a laptop. It has a large screen.
- I have bought a laptop which has a large screen.
That can be used to refer to both people and things.
- I have bought a laptop that has a large screen.
- This is the house that Jack built.
- This is the girl that won the first prize.
Notes
Do not use ‘that’ in relative clauses set off with a comma.
Whose
Whose is a possessive relative pronoun. It can replace words like his, her, their or our.
Exercise
This exercise is taken from CBSE Class 5 English Unit 3.
Fill in the blanks using one of the words given in brackets.
(i) Where is the child ……………. parents have come to school? (who / whose / which)
(ii) I saw many houses ………….. were quite spacious. (which / whose / who)
(iii) Mathematics, ……………. is my favourite subject, is so interesting. (who / which / that)
(iv) The poem …………… you read out is so lovely. (whose / which / that)
(v) I know the street ……………. he lives on. (whose / that / which)
(vi) I like reading books ……………. have pictures in them. (that / who / which)
(vii) The old lady ………………… I met in your house is my neighbour. (whom / that / which)
Answers
(i) Where is the child whose parents have come to school?
(ii) I saw many houses which were quite spacious.
(iii) Mathematics, which is my favourite subject, is so interesting. (We cannot use ‘that’ when the relative clause is set off with a comma.)
(iv) The poem which / that you read out is so lovely.
(v) I know the street that he lives on.
(vi) I like reading books that / which have pictures in them.
(vii) The old lady whom I met in your house is my neighbour.
