English Grammar Drills

52 Noun Phrases
17. Berlin, which had been a divided city, is now open to everyone.
18. Our friends went to a museum where there was free admission on Mondays.
19. That was the moment when I knew we were in big trouble.
20. The yogurt, which had been in our refrigerator for months, had to be thrown out.
The internal structure of adjective clauses
Virtually all languages have adjective clauses. The internal structure of adjective clauses in English,
however, is unusually complicated. All adjective clauses must begin with a special pronoun
called a relative pronoun. (The term relative pronoun refers to the fact that these pronouns are
used only in forming relative clauses.) The choice of which relative pronoun to use is governed by
two factors: (1) the role of the relative pronoun inside its own adjective clause (i.e., whether the
relative pronoun is a subject, object, possessive, adverb of space, or adverb of time), and (2) the
nature of the noun that the adjective clause modifies. This noun is known as the antecedent of
the relative pronoun. We will examine both of these factors in more detail.
Role of the relative pronoun inside its own clause. We choose between who, whom, and whose
depending on the role the relative pronoun plays. If the relative pronoun plays the role of subject,
we must use who. If the relative pronoun plays the role of object, we must use whom. (The m in
whom is historically the same object marker as in him and them.) If the relative pronoun is possessive,
we must use whose. In the following examples the relative pronoun is in italics and the entire
adjective clause is underlined.
Relative pronoun plays the role of subject
He is a person who will always do the right thing.
In this sentence, who is the subject of the verb do.
Please give your dues to Ms. Walker, who is the treasurer of the organization.
Here who is the subject of the verb is.
The musicians who played for us today are all from local schools.
In this sentence, who is the subject of the verb played.
Relative pronoun plays the role of object
He is a person whom I have always admired.