IXL | Use relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, and that

Complete the sentence with the best relative pronoun.

Last night I heard from Molly Brock, iiiiiiiiiiiiifnn I haven't seen in over a decade.

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question

Complete the sentence with the best relative pronoun.

Gordon, iiiiiiiiiiiiifnn Mrs. Dorsey often hires, is a highly skilled carpenter.

key idea

A relative pronoun introduces a dependent (or relative) clause that describes a noun or pronoun. The five main relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and that.

The relative pronouns who and whom give information about people.

To figure out whether to use who or whom, restate the dependent clause with a personal pronoun. If the clause uses a subject pronoun (he, she, or they), use who. If the clause uses an object pronoun (him, her, or them), use whom.

The woman who lives next door grows tomatoes in her garden.

She lives next door.

Peter, whom you met yesterday, has four younger brothers.

You met him yesterday.

The relative pronoun that gives necessary information about things. Necessary information narrows down what you're talking about and is not set off by commas.

We walked to a park that has a tire swing.

The information narrows down which park we walked to. It is necessary.

The relative pronoun which adds unnecessary information about things. This extra information does not narrow down what you're talking about. It is always set off by commas.

We walked to Glendale Park, which has a tire swing.

The information is extra. It does not narrow down which park we walked to.

The relative pronoun whose shows possession.

Emily, whose hair is quite long, likes wearing braids.

Do not confuse whose with who's. Who's is a contraction for who is or who has. It does not show possession.

Emily, who's quite tall, can reach the top shelf.

Emily, who is quite tall, can reach the top shelf.

solution

The dependent clause gives information about a person. You can restate the dependent clause with the object pronoun him, so use the relative pronoun whom.

Gordon, whom Mrs. Dorsey often hires, is a highly skilled carpenter.

The dependent clause can be restated as "Mrs. Dorsey often hires him."

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LL.10Use relative pronouns: who and whom

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