English Grammar Test: Relative Clauses
- Relative Clauses
- 15 questions
- 12 minutes
This test covers relative pronouns, defining and non-defining relative clauses, leaving out the pronoun and shortened clauses with -ing and past participles. Tip: in a clause between commas you can use who or which, but never that.
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Question 1
The man ____ car was stolen called the police right away.
Correct answer: C
Whose shows possession: it is the man's car. Who's means who is, which makes no sense before car.
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Question 2
Our old car, ____ we bought in 2010, still runs well.
Correct answer: A
The clause between commas adds extra information about a thing, so it needs which. That cannot introduce a non-defining clause, and who is for people.
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Question 3
The colleague with ____ I share an office is very quiet.
Correct answer: B
Directly after a preposition, a person is referred to with whom. That can never follow a preposition, and which is for things.
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Question 4
This is the hotel ____ we stayed on our honeymoon.
Correct answer: D
Where replaces at/in which for places. Which or that would need a preposition at the end (the hotel which we stayed at).
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Question 5
I'll never forget the day ____ I passed my driving test.
Correct answer: B
When introduces a relative clause after a time noun such as day. Which would need on before it (on which).
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Question 6
____ surprised me most was the price.
Correct answer: C
What means "the thing that" and can begin a clause that acts as the subject of the sentence. That or which would need a noun before them.
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Question 7
In which sentence can the relative pronoun be left out?
Correct answer: A
A relative pronoun can be dropped only when it is the object of its clause: The book I borrowed from Ana. In the other sentences it is the subject of its clause, and a non-defining clause never drops it.
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Question 8
Daniel has only one brother.
Which sentence is punctuated correctly?
Correct answer: D
With only one brother, "who lives in Paris" just adds information, so it is a non-defining clause with a comma on both sides. Without commas it would suggest Daniel has more than one brother, and that is not used between commas.
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Question 9
He passed all his exams, ____ made his parents very happy.
Correct answer: D
After a comma, which can refer to the whole previous clause (the fact that he passed). That and what cannot be used this way.
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Question 10
Nobody knows the reason ____ she left the party so early.
Correct answer: A
The reason why is the standard pattern. Which would need for before it (the reason for which).
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Question 11
The students ____ in the front row could hear the speaker clearly.
Correct answer: C
A shortened relative clause with an active meaning uses the -ing form: sitting = who were sitting. Who sitting is missing the verb were.
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Question 12
Most of the toys ____ in this factory are sold abroad.
Correct answer: B
The toys do not make anything; they are made. A shortened passive relative clause uses the past participle: made = which are made.
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Question 13
Which change corrects this sentence?
The people which live upstairs are very noisy.
Correct answer: A
People are persons, so the relative pronoun should be who (or that). People is plural, so live and are are already correct.
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Question 14
Paris is a city ____ history goes back more than 2,000 years.
Correct answer: B
Whose can refer to things as well as people: the city's history. Which or where would leave history goes back without a link to Paris.
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Question 15
She has three sons. ____ are doctors, so the family jokes that she never needs an appointment.
Correct answer: C
The sentence begins after a full stop, so it needs an ordinary pronoun: All of them. All of whom only works inside the same sentence after a comma (three sons, all of whom are doctors).
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
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