Relative Pronouns

We use relative clauses to give additional information about something without starting another sentence. By combining sentences with a relative clause, your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid repeating certain words.

The most common relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, that. The relative pronoun we use depends on what we are referring to.

We use who to refer to people, and sometimes to pet animals:

I think there’d be a lot of children who’d love to have a climbing wall in school.

That’s the dog who doesn’t like me.

There’s this guy at work, who’s one of my friends, well he’s never been on a train.

We use whom in formal styles or in writing to refer to people when the person is the object of the verb. It is much more common in writing than in speaking:

The response of those managers whom I have consulted has been very positive and we are looking forward to meeting together. (whom refers to those managers and is the object of consulted in the relative clause)

She was a celebrated actress whom he had known and loved, on and off, almost since her first appearance on the stage.

We usually use whose as a relative pronoun to indicate possession by people and animals. In more formal styles we can also use it for things:

He’s marrying a girl whose family don’t seem to like him. (The family of the girl he’s marrying don’t seem to like him.)

There was me and there was Kate, whose party it was, and then there were two other people. (It was Kate’s party.)

We use which to refer to animals and to things:

You need to tick the box which says yes.

He won’t have much time to prepare for the meeting, which is this afternoon. 

She had to get up and walk all the way to the other side of the room, which isn’t easy with a bad back. (which refers to the whole sentence before it)

We use that instead of who, whom or which to refer to people, animals and things. That is more informal than who, whom or which:

We met somebody last night that did the speech therapy course two years after you. (refers to a person)

The 8.30 is the train that you need to get. (refers to a thing)

She blamed herself for everything that had happened.