Grammar practice
Using relative clauses
1 Choose the correct relative pronouns to complete the sentences.
1 We met an illustrator who / which worked on superhero comics.
2 A hero is not only someone which / that does brave things.
3 Krypton is the imaginary planet which / where Superman was born.
4 The 1930s was a period when / which many well-known comic characters were created.
5 Jim Smith was a writer who / whose imagination gave rise to many great characters.
6 My favorite comic, that / which I buy every week, is called Titans.
7 We sailed across a great lake, where / which has been used as a location for many movies.
8 Geography is a subject that / whose I’m really interested in.
2 Check (✓) the sentences with non-defining relative clauses. Add commas where necessary.
1 A leading physicist who works in the United States has just made a ground-breaking
discovery.
2 He left the college when the First World War started.
3 John works as a teacher at Wilson College where there are 200 students.
4 Sherlock Holmes who is of course a fictional detective carries out scientific
experiments in some of the books.
5 I think that Marvel was one of the comics that I loved reading as a child.
6 During the excursion which was incredibly interesting we saw the skeletons of dinosaurs.
3 Join the sentences using the relative pronouns in parentheses. Add commas where
necessary.
1 Peter Faulkner is a scientist. His ideas are very controversial. (whose)
2 The laboratory is in this building. Peter works there. (where)
3 It is quite an easy experiment. It should be finished today. (which)
4 Mary is a student. She is often late for school. (who)
5 He began to develop his own scientific theory. It was new at that time. (which)
6 The man had no special training. He saved the lives of all the children on the bus. (who)
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Grammar practice
4 Read the sentences. Choose the correct answers. If it is possible to omit the pronoun,
choose –. In some cases, more than one answer is possible.
1 We went to a party … Jack had organized.
a who b that c –
2 This is the laboratory … the scientists carry out experiments.
a – b where c which
3 The liver is an organ … cleans the blood.
a that b – c where
4 She’s my friend Sally, … I’ve known since childhood.
a – b which c who
5 The title of the book … I’m reading is Ultimate Heroes.
a that b – c who
6 I have an elderly aunt … hobby is skydiving.
a which b whose c who
5 Complete the biography of Alexander the Great with the clauses below. Add relative pronouns
and make other changes where necessary.
he believed there was a great ocean there he is commonly known as Alexander the Great
he was buried there he was only twenty years of age at the time
his name will never be forgotten it stretched from Greece to India they were homesick
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (356 BC–323 BC),
1
, was born in what is
now northern Greece. He became king in 336 BC
2
. He spent most of his life
on a military campaign through Asia and northeast
Africa. By the age of thirty, he had created an empire
3
. Alexander wanted to
reach the end of the world 4 .
However, in 326 BC, he had to turn back and head
home because his soldiers, 5 ,
begged him not to go any further. On the return
journey, he died in Babylon 6 .
However, even today, he remains a hero
7
. That is because so many
cities are named after him, including great cities such
as Alexandria in Egypt and Kandahar in Afghanistan.
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Grammar practice
6 Correct the sentences. Omit the relative pronouns if you can. Add commas where necessary.
1 This is the history class who I enjoy the most.
2 That’s the college in where I studied.
3 I failed the exam when was the most important.
4 The researcher from Finland who name is difficult to remember has contacted me.
5 The movie which it was about a superhero was directed by Simon Hill.
6 Sue interviewed Tom Pitt who new movie is out next week.
7 Pamela still remembers those magical days where she was traveling in Mexico.
8 Batman is undoubtedly the superhero of that I have the fondest memories.
7 Complete the sentences with your own ideas.
1 A real hero is someone .
2 I would like to visit a place .
3 I’d love to have lived at a time .
4 Celebrities are among my heroes.
5 Being a hero is something .
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