Grammar - 2.6 & 2.7 Make a Start (Wednesday; 28/9)

K: Identify relative pronouns.

U: Grasp an understanding of our writing.

D: Answer the relative pronoun questions.

Words of the Day

1. Who

2. Whom

Let's Begin

Please refer to page 58 in your learner's book. Assure that the day and date is written in your Grammar book.

1. Who

We use who in relative clauses to refer to people.

I think there’d be a lot of children who’d love to have a climbing wall in school. 

There’s this guy at work, who’s one of my friends, well he’s never been on a train.

2. Whom 

The most common use of whom is with a preposition. We can use whom as the complement of a preposition:

The first book was a terrible historical novel for children which was turned down by every publisher to whom it was sent. (whom refers to every publisher and is the complement of the preposition to)

Drama in schools is particularly good for pupils for whom English is a second language.

We put the preposition before whom.

3. Whose

We usually use whose as a relative pronoun to indicate possession by people and animals. In more formal styles, we can also use it for things.

He’s marrying a girl whose family don’t seem to like him.

There was me and there was Kate, whose party it was, and then there were two other people.

It is a rambling Tudor house, whose sitting room looks out over a wonderful walled garden.

4. Which 

We use which in relative clauses to refer to animals and to things.

You need to tick the box which says yes.

He won’t have much time to prepare for the meeting, which is this afternoon.

5. That

We use that instead of who, whom or which in relative clauses to refer to people, animals and things. That is more informal than who, whom or which:

We met somebody last night that did the speech therapy course two years after you. (refers to a person)

The 8.30 is the train that you need to get. (refers to a thing)

She blamed herself for everything that had happened.

How can we identify who and whom?

Whom should be used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition. When in doubt, try this simple trick: If you can replace the word with he, she, or they, use who. If you can replace it with him, her, or them, use whom. Let's see some examples:

1. The musician who wrote this song is Malaysian.

She/He/They wrote this song.

2. I know who your best friend is!

He/She/They are your best friend!

3. The witnesses whom I interviewed gave conflicting evidence.

I interviewed her/him/them.

4. Actually, she knew very little about the friend with whom she had befriended at the beach.

She has befriended him/her/them.

 

Task 1

Please refer to page 58 in your learner's book. List down one relative pronoun that is used for a person and one relative pronoun that is used for an object. Only write your answer in your Grammar book.

You have 15 minutes for this task.

Task 2

Please refer to pages 58-59 in your learner's book. Write 1b1 to 1b6's sentences and your answers in your Grammar book.

You have 20 minutes for this task.