Grammar Worksheet — Intro
Advanced Relative Clauses
Explanation
Advanced relative clauses can refer to people, things, possession, methods, places, or whole previous clauses.
Use whose for possession with people, organisations, and sometimes things.
In formal writing, prepositions can come before whom or which: the issue to which the report refers.
Form
| Use | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Core form | whose + noun | The company, whose profits fell, cut costs. |
| Variation | preposition + which/whom | The principle on which the system depends is simple. |
| Advanced form | which referring to a whole clause | The deadline was extended, which relieved the team. |
Use whereby to mean by which or through which in formal descriptions of systems and processes.
Use commas around non-defining relative clauses.
Examples
- The company, whose profits fell sharply, cut costs.
- The principle on which the system depends is simple.
- The deadline was extended, which relieved the team.
- The process whereby applications are assessed is transparent.
- The manager to whom the complaint was sent has resigned.
- The policy, the effects of which remain unclear, will be reviewed.
- She proposed a model in which responsibility is shared.
- The witnesses, many of whom were children, gave similar accounts.
Common Mistakes
- The company, which profits fell, cut costs. → The company, whose profits fell, cut costs. Use whose for possession.
- The principle which the system depends is simple. → The principle on which the system depends is simple. Keep the required preposition on.
- The deadline was extended, that relieved the team. → The deadline was extended, which relieved the team. Use which to refer to the whole previous clause.
- The process where applications are assessed is transparent. → The process whereby applications are assessed is transparent. Use whereby for a formal process meaning by which.