The Grammaring Guide to English Grammar with Exercises

Exercises: relative clauses

Relative clauses - Exercise 1

Decide whether the relative clauses in the following sentences are defining or non-defining and whether the relative pronoun can be omitted or not. The commas are missing in some of the sentences. In which ones and where?

An advocate is a person who can help you get information about your rights.

That is the kind of house that everyone would love to live in.

Beijing which is one of the world's most populated cities is the capital of China.

Do you know anyone who can lend me a bike?

The food that they served at the reception was delicious.

This poem which was written by Robert Frost is one of my favourites.

The blue whale which is the largest existing mammal is an endangered species.

The man whose seat I had accidentally taken offered to sit somewhere else.

Was it you who called the ambulance?

Alex who had never flown before was terribly nervous.

Relative clauses - Exercise 2

Decide if the following sentences are correct or incorrect.

The beer what I drank last night was the best I had ever had.

She should apologise for which she said.

Robert, who had promised to help paint the kitchen, didn't come.

Who is the woman I saw you with?

On Monday which was wet and windy we stayed in the hotel.

I didn't tell him anything, which made him furious.

I was very upset about that I heard.

Do you know a shop where it sells good wine?

Look! That's the guy, whose son has won the Best Student award.

Do you remember the day when we met?

Relative clauses - Exercise 3

Fill in the relative pronouns or relative adverbs.

Everyone ... heard about the murder was shocked.

That is the boy with ... Cindy used to go out.

It was the kind of day ... everything goes wrong.

Nothing happened for a long time, ... made me feel worried.

He will be punished for ... he has done.

Ryan, ... car had been towed away, had to take a bus.

This is the place ... the accident happened.

His last movie, in ... he plays the main character, was great.

It was his tie ... made him stand out.

Kathy called her mother, ... was very upset.

Relative clauses - Exercise 4

Combine the sentences so that the new sentence begins as shown. Use relative clauses, cleft or pseudo-cleft sentences.

This morning I tried a new pancake recipe. It was really delicious.

The ...

She wrote an angry e-mail to her boss. He was very upset about it.

She ...

First they told us to go to room 105. We had to wait for two hours there.

First ...

Gabriel is a very helpful person. He agreed to do the washing up.

Gabriel, ...

It's a few days off that I need. I don't need anything else.

What ...

They were very silent. It was unusual.

They ...

The story is about Hans. He works for an international music company.

The ...

The story is about a man. He works for an international music company.

The ...

The person who broke the window was George. It wasn't someone else.

It ...

There is a new street food restaurant down the street. Have you been there?

Have ...

Relative clauses - Exercise 5

Tell your partner about ...

a friend who you have known for a long time.

a sport you would like to try.

an object that is very important to you.

a dish you can cook.

an actor whose films you like.

a time when you were proud of yourself.

a place where you would like to go.

a person that you look up to.

a decision which was hard to make.

a day when you were very happy.

Relative clauses - Exercise 6

Student A, look at role card 1. Student B, look at role card 2. Make sure you understand the words. Take turns defining the words to your partner using relative clauses. Example:

A: It's a place where you can borrow books.

B: A library.

Role card 1 - Student A

1. Define the following words to your partner using relative clauses: waiter, dictionary, helmet, umbrella, kidnapper, telephone, rush hour, professor, desert, butterfly.

2. Listen to your partner's definitions and guess the words.

Role card 2 - Student B

1. Listen to your partner's definitions and guess the words.

2. Define the following words to your partner using relative clauses: burglar, camera, memory stick, bicycle, skyscraper, robot, basketball, winter, supermarket, wolf.