who, which, that

A relative clause comes straight after a noun. It tells you which person or thing the sentence is about. Without it, the listener doesn't know who or what you mean.

Who, which or that

Use who for people and which for things. That works for both, and in everyday English it is the most common choice.

Leaving out who, which or that

When who, which or that is the object, with another subject after it, you can leave it out.

When it is the subject, with a verb straight after it, it must stay.

Where and whose

Where is for places: the café where we met. Whose is for "his, her, their": the girl whose bag was stolen.

Common mistakes

The relative word replaces him, her or it, so don't add another pronoun.

• × The book that I read it was good. → The book that I read was good.
• × The man who he lives here … → The man who lives here …
• × The car who is outside … → The car which/that is outside …
• × The man which called you … → The man who called you …
• × The man called you is here. → The man who called you is here.