Relative clauses are used to provide extra information. They are dependent clauses. Review the following relative pronouns:
Relative Pronoun | Example |
Who (people) | Henry and Mara, who are at Mark’s house, should text me. |
Whom (people) | The person for whom I bought this gift is my cousin. |
Whose (people) | The person whose car is parked illegally please come to the front desk. |
That (objects) | My chest, that has my jewelry in it, was stolen. |
Which (objects) | My chest which was stolen had jewelry in it. |
What is the difference between who, whom, and whose?
- Who is used to provide extra information about the subject of the sentence. (Can be replaced by subject pronouns he, she)
- Whom is used to provide extra information about the object of the verb. (Can be replaced by object pronouns him, her)
- Whose is used to provide extra information about the owner of an object. (Can be replaced by possessive object pronouns (his, hers).
What is the difference between that and which?
- If the information in the clause is necessary in order to understand the context, you can use either which or that.
- In the sentence “My chest which was stolen had jewelry in it”, “which was stolen” tells us exactly which chest we are referring to. It has the same meaning as “My chest that was stolen had jewelry in it.”
- If the information in the clause is not necessary, then you must use which.
- In the sentence “Miami, which is the city where I was born, is my home.”