Relative clauses with prepositions exercises

Relative Clauses Part Three: Using prepositions with WHICH & WHOM

• Devon Balwit
• September 1, 2016
• How can I improve my English?

As covered in our English classes, Students often make the following common relative clause error .

• The chair that I am sitting isn’t comfortable.
• The person who I live is my cousin.
• The school which I go is in Oregon.

They forget to include the preposition that goes with the verb and comes before the object of the preposition :

The chair that I am sitting in isn’t comfortable.

The person who I live with is my cousin.

The school which I go to is in Oregon.

Many common verbs are followed by prepositions before their object .

A partial list includes verbs such as:

Let’s focus on the verb “ look at ”—

We look at something or someone. That something or someone is the object of the preposition “ at .”

If I want to turn these sentences into adjective clauses, I must keep the preposition :

Putting the preposition first sounds very formal. I can also write the first sentence in these less formal ways:

The woman who I am looking at is sitting near the ocean.
The woman that I am looking at is sitting near the ocean.
The woman I am looking at is sitting near the ocean.

I only need to use whom if it follows the preposition . Otherwise, I can use who, that, or nothing at all (since the relative pronoun is an object).

I can rewrite the second sentence like this:

While the relative pronoun can change or be deleted, and while the position of the preposition at can change, I must always keep the preposition at .

Let’s focus on a new verb, “pay for ”:

I can pay for a friend (as in treat the friend). I can pay for dinner.

• The friend for whom I paid had a birthday. The dinner forwhich I paid was expensive.
• The friend who I paid for had a birthday. The dinner which I paid for was expensive.
• The friend that I paid for had a birthday. The dinner that I paid for was expensive.
• The friend I paid for had a birthday. The dinner I paid for was expensive.

Now you try.

First, what can you think about? You can think about: a plan, an essay, a problem, an idea, a person, and so on. Start your sentence with this noun as the subject.

thinking about a plan prepositions" width="300" height="225" /> The plan

The woman

• The plan that he is thinkingabout
• The woman who he is thinkingabout

• The plan that he is thinking about will take a lot of work.
• The woman who he is thinking about is his girlfriend.

Or, this noun can be the object:

• I know the plan .
• I have never met the woman .

If it is the object, you just need to follow the object with the relative clause.

• I know the plan that he is thinking about.
• I have never met the woman that he is thinking about.

Practice a few more times with the other verbs above, and you will be an advanced writer in English!