01 Apr 2012
This week students have been focussing on relative pronouns in class.
Pronouns are words like I, it, which, who, that, his, herself. They are used 'in place of' (Latin: pro) a noun or a noun phrase. To avoid repetition, we use a pronoun for the second and subsequent mentions of the same person or thing:
I saw the dog, I think it was chewing your shoe.
A pronoun can be used wherever a noun or a noun phrase can be used in a sentence:
As the subject of a verb:
The dog was barking. It was barking.
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As the object of a verb:
I heard the fire alarm. Did you hear it?
As the object of a preposition:
I was thinking about a quick snack. I was thinking about that, too.
There are several different kinds of pronouns, with different functions:
Relative pronouns
"When I arrived at their house the big dog, which was called Rover, was barking loudly because it was lonely."
In our example sentence the pronoun which refers back to the noun phrase the big dog.
The main relative pronouns are: who, whom, whose, which and that.
Their function is to link a relative clause to a preceding noun:
1. The man who had fixed the leak had left his spanner.
2. I enjoyed the film about scuba diving that we saw.
3. The boy who I saw earlier whose key has been lost ...
Any students that circle the correct answers below and hand them to Miss Smith will receive a gold ticket.
Which word correctly completes this sentence?
This is the girl ___________ laughter is very loud.
1. that's 2. who's 3.whose 4. which
Which word correctly completes this sentence?
The boy ____________ was camping next to us said hello.
1. who 2. what 3.which 4. why
Complete this website challenge and print it off to receive another GOLD TICKET!
http://www.connect2esl.com/main/activities/relativepronouns1.htm