Relative Pronouns and Omitting Pronouns in Adjective Clauses in English

Hi everyone. It’s Jennifer and I’m here with our next lesson on adjective clauses.

There’s always a day when we realize we didn’t know as much as we thought we did.

That’s true about almost anything, right? Whether we’re talking about English grammar or your friend’s personal interests, there’s always more to discover.

Maybe the reason why we didn’t know everything before is because we didn’t ask enough questions!

Well, let’s start asking more questions about adjective clauses. We’ll start with this question:

Are WHICH, THAT, and WHO the only relative pronouns we can use to form adjective clauses?

No, they're not. So it’s time to learn about other relative pronouns.

First, WHO vs. WHOM. Does anyone use WHOM anymore?

Yes, but we mostly see it in writing. That's because WHOM is rather formal.

We can only use WHOM to refer to people and only when it’s an object.

That’s correct, but it sounds rather formal.

In everyday English, most speakers would prefer alternative wording:

That's a little more natural, but it still sounds quite formal.

Here are some less formal variations.

So notice that the sentence automatically becomes less formal when we move the preposition to the end.

That last sentence is the one I’d use in everyday English. Do you see the relative pronoun?

You don’t, do you? That’s because we can omit the relative pronoun when it’s an object (not a subject)

and when the adjective clause is necessary to identify the head noun.

In other words, we have an identify, defining, or restrictive clause.

Let's do a quick check.

We can omit these relative pronouns and only these two.

Why? Because they function as objects.

And they're in identifying clauses. We need those adjective clauses to identify the head noun.

So they're identifying, defining, or restrictive clauses.

If we take out those relative pronouns, the sentences sound less formal (even more informal).

What about WHO vs. WHOSE?

Look at this example.

No other relative pronoun would work in that sentence.

WHOSE can’t be replaced by another pronoun because WHOSE is possessive.

Whose advice? My friend’s. My friend’s advice is valuable.

We can use WHOSE + noun as the subject or object in an adjective clause.

Do you remember what I said at the beginning of this lesson...about not knowing everything?

I said:

There’s a relative pronoun in that sentence.

The relative pronoun is WHEN.

Which day was I referring to? The day when you realize you didn’t know as much as you thought you did.

We can also use WHEN, WHERE, and WHY as relative pronouns (also called "relative adverbs") in adjective clauses.

WHEN, WHERE, and WHY have limited use, of course.

WHEN is for time periods. Possible head nouns are day, moment, season...

WHERE is for places. Possible head nouns are place, point, room...

WHY is for reasons, so a very common head noun is "reason." A reason why... The reason why...

Let me share some examples of adjective clauses with the relative pronouns (adverbs) WHEN, WHERE, and WHY.

Here's an example with WHEN.

Note we often drop the relative pronouns WHEN, WHERE, and WHY in identifying clauses.

Next, let's look at an example of WHERE.

Note that it's possible to replace WHERE with another relative pronoun.

A place is a thing, so we could say: Everyone needs a place in which they can relax.

OR: Everyone needs a place which they can relax in.

But WHERE is the preferred choice in everyday English. It's also more concise.

This is very important to note: you can't always use WHERE every time you'r referring to a place.

You can only use the relative pronoun WHERE when you can rewrite the idea using THERE.

So let's look at our original example.

We can restate this idea and say: Everyone needs a place. They can relax THERE...meaning in that place.

So consider this next example.

Can we easily restate this idea with THERE?

No. So it's best to keep the relative pronoun THAT in this sentence.

Here's an example with the relative pronoun WHY.

Here we can drop the relative pronoun WHY. The head noun is clear and the sentence makes sense without it.

Why don't you create some examples?

I’ll offer some corrections as time allows, but please help one another. Read other people's comments.

You can finish these sentences:

That's all for now. If you found this lesson helpful, please remember to like this video.

As always, thanks for watching and happy studies!