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English grammar exercises

Relative pronouns exercise

Relative pronouns are words like who, whom, which and that. They are used to combine two clauses. This grammar exercise tests your ability to use relative pronouns correctly.

Complete the following sentences using an appropriate relative pronoun.

1. I have never met the people ………………… live next door.

a) who b) that c) Either could be used here

Answer: who / that

In identifying relative clauses both ‘who’ and ‘that’ can be used to refer to people.

2. Those ………………… have not yet paid their fee should do so at once.

a) who b) which c) whom

Answer: who

Both ‘who’ and ‘whom’ can refer to people. ‘Whom’ is used when the relative pronoun acts as the object of the verb in the relative clause.

3. It is a wonderful picture book ……………… will interest preschoolers.

a) which b) who c) that

Answer: which / that

In identifying relative clauses both ‘which’ and ‘that’ can refer to objects.

4. I know a man ………………. son lives in Switzerland.

a) who b) who’s c) whose

Answer: whose

‘Whose’ is the possessive form of ‘who’. ‘Who’s’ is the contracted form of ‘who is’ or ‘who has’.

5. She is married to a painter of ……………………… you may have heard.

a) whom b) that c) whose

Answer: whom

6. He lives in a foreign country the name …………………. I have forgotten.

a) of which b) of whose c) of that

Answer: of which

Instead of ‘whose + noun’, we can use ‘noun + of which’.

The sentence can also be written as: He lives in a foreign country whose name I have forgotten.

7. I have brought everything ………………… you ordered.

a) that b) what c) Either could be used here

Answer: that

8. She got married again six months later, ………………… surprised everybody.

a) which b) what c) that

Answer: which

‘Which’ can refer to a whole clause that comes before. In this case it means ‘and that’.

So, the sentence can also be written as: She married again six months later and that surprised everybody.

9. We have got ………………….. we need.

a) that b) what c) that which

Answer: what / that which

Note that ‘that which’ is very unusual in modern English.

10. They rescued hundreds of refugees some ……………….. had been trapped in the mountain for weeks.

a) of whom b) of them c) of which

Answer: of whom