Relative Pronouns & Clauses: who(m), which, that | English Grammar Lesson | B2-Upper Intermediate

Hello and welcome everyone to this lesson which  is all about Relative Pronouns. Let me share  

my screen and start the lesson. It's based on a  question that I often get about relative pronouns  

which is: Can we replace any relative pronoun,  that's who, which, whom, and whose, with the  

word 'that'. The answer is, in many cases, yes!  But there are some cases where we can't. Let's  

start with a quick review of relative pronouns  before we look at the use of the word 'that'.  

What is a relative pronoun? A relative pronoun  is a word which connects a noun to a clause,  

which gives information about that noun. And there  are two main categories of relative pronouns. The  

first one is relative pronouns that refer  to people, and there are three of those:  

who, whom, and whose. For example: I love people  who speak their mind. I prefer friends with whom  

I can be honest. Now, often in English, we put the  preposition 'with' to the end of the sentence. And  

in that case, you can still use 'whom'. But very  often, we change it to 'who'. So you can say:  

I prefer friends who I can be honest with. And  the example with 'whose' is: I like listening to  

individuals whose opinions differ from mine. The  opinions belong to individuals. And in this case,  

our relative pronoun is 'whose'. So, the second  category is relative pronouns that refer to  

things, and there are two of those 'which' and  again 'whose'. For example: I love things which  

can be recycled. And: clothes whose labels  are intact can be resold. A quick note that  

you can use 'of which' instead of 'whose' for  objects like labels belonging to clothes. But,  

that creates a more complicated structure and  sounds quite formal too. For example saying:  

clothes the labels of which are intact can be  resold. Or even more formal and more complicated:  

clothes of which the labels are intact can be  resold. These are usually avoided and 'whose'  

is always a better choice. So, use 'whose'  both for people and for objects. So, which  

one of these can be replaced with 'that'? Which',  'who', and 'whom' can be replaced. For example:  

I love things that can be recycled. I love  people that speak their mind. I prefer friends  

that I can be honest with. Preposition at the  end. So, that makes 'that' a very useful word,  

especially when it's difficult to decide if a word  refers to people or things. For example 'company',  

'team', or 'group'. So, which ones we cannot  replace with 'that'? That would be 'whose' and  

'whom' after a preposition. For example we can't  say: clothes that labels are intact. It has to be:  

clothes whose labels are intact. I like listening  to individuals whose opinions differ from mine. We  

cannot use 'that' here. And if we keep the  preposition in the middle of the sentence,  

again that doesn't work: I prefer friends with  whom I can be honest. So, that answers the  

question. But, there's one more important point I  need to mention to you and that's the difference  

between a defining and a non-defining relative  clause. A relative clause is the part that  

provides the information about the noun. It's the  phrase. This phrase (this part) can be defining,  

or essential, or non-defining, or non-essential.  With a defining relative clause, if you remove  

the information we don't know what or who you're  talking about anymore. So, it has to stay in the  

sentence. With a non-defining or non-essential  clause, if you remove the information we still  

know who or what you're talking about. This  clause only gives additional non-essential  

information. Let's look at some examples. So, we  had previously the example of a defining clause:  

I love things which can be recycled. The example  of a non-defining clause would be: This top,  

which I've only worn once, can be recycled. You  can drop 'which have only worn once', and you  

still have a complete sentence and we know which  top (this top) can be recycled. Another example we  

had the defining clause: I love people who speak  their mind. Let's change it to a non-defining  

clause. For example we can say: John, who always  speaks his mind, called Jenny a liar. So now,  

we can drop 'who always speaks his mind' it's just  additional information, and say: John called Jenny  

a liar. We still know who we're talking about.  So, why am I mentioning this? Because it makes a  

difference to whether we can use 'that' or not.  We cannot use 'that' for a non-defining clause.  

For example we have the defining one: I love  things which or that can be recycled. No problem!  

But, with the other example: This top, which I've  only worn once, we cannot use 'that'. Another  

example. We had the defining clause: I love people  who or that speak their mind. But in the sentence  

with John, we cannot use 'that' only 'who' works  here: John, who always speaks his mind, called  

Jenny a liar. And note that in written English,  the non-defining clause always comes after a  

comma. Right, that separates it. It tells us that  it's additional non-essential information. Now,  

one last thing to mention. It's a mistake that I  often hear is please do not use 'what' instead of  

'which' or 'that'. Right so for example: Put the  clause, uh sorry: Put the clothes which or that  

can be recycled in that bag. Don't say: Put the  clothes what can be recycled in that bag. Because  

'what' has a larger meaning. It includes the noun  as well. 'What' means the thing which or the thing  

that. So, instead of: Put the clothes which can  be recycled in that bag. Instead of the whole part  

(the clothes which or the clothes that), you can  say: Put what can be recycled in that bag. Okay,  

that's the end of the lesson. I hope it has  been helpful in answering the question when  

we can use the word 'that' instead of relative  pronouns. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.  

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