A relative clause adds information about a noun without starting a new sentence. “The girl won the race. She is my cousin.” becomes “The girl who won the race is my cousin.” It begins with a relative pronoun: who, which, that, whose or where.
What your child will learn
- Use who for people, and which or that for things
- Use whose for belonging, and where for places
- Find the relative clause in a sentence
- Put commas around a relative clause that only adds extra information
Which pronoun?
Who is for people: the teacher who helped me. Which and that are for things and animals: the book that I borrowed. Whose shows belonging: the boy whose bike was stolen. Where is for places: the town where I was born.
Commas for extras
If the clause is just extra information, put commas around it: “My dog, who is three, loves swimming.” Take the clause out and the sentence still makes sense.
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. Which word completes the sentence? “The boy ___ bike was stolen felt sad.”
- whose
- which
- who
- where
Show answer
Answer: whose. Whose shows that something belongs to someone.
2. Which word completes the sentence? “The girl ___ won the race is my cousin.”
- who
- where
- whose
- which
Show answer
Answer: who. Who is used for people.
3. What does a relative clause do?
- Adds information about a noun
- Ends a sentence
- Asks a question
- Replaces the verb
Show answer
Answer: Adds information about a noun. It tells us more about the noun just before it.
Tips for grown-ups
- Join two short sentences with who or which.
- Play “the one who…”: describe family members with a relative clause.
- Find relative clauses in a favourite book and say which noun they describe.