Question

uestions 1–4: Test your knowledge of relative pronouns by choosing the correct form in each of the following sentences. 1. All of the zoo animals who/that were indoors were fed by four o’clock. 2. The March Hare, who/which appears in the next chapter, is quite eccentric. 3. The French soldiers, who/that arrived after dark, went without supper. 4. I am reading a biography of Napoleon, that/which is a remarkable book.

Answer 1

1. That
2. Who
3. Who
4. Which - this is a terrible sentence. Neither choice is really good, but because there is a comma after Napoleon and the title is not specifically named, I would say which.

Answer 2

1. All of the zoo animals who/that were indoors were fed by four o’clock.

2. The March Hare, who/which appears in the next chapter, is quite eccentric.

3. The French soldiers, who/that arrived after dark, went without supper.

4. I am reading a biography of Napoleon, that/which is a remarkable book.

Explanation:

A relative pronoun is a pronoun used to introduce relative clauses, which are a group of words with a subject and a verb that tells us more about someone or something. These relative clauses can be defining (when it gives essential information about a noun in the sentence) or non-defining (when it does not give essential information about a noun and is set off by commas). There are five relative pronouns:

• who: to refer to a person that performs the main action, and sometimes to pets, and fictional characters even if they are animals; it introduces both defining clauses and non-defining clauses.
• whom: to refer to a person that acts as the verb's object; it introduces both defining clauses and non-defining clauses.
• which: to refer to animals and things; it introduces both defining clauses and non-defining clauses.
• that: to refer to a person, animal, or thing; it is used only when the clause it introduces is defining.
• whose: it refers to people and animals (and somethings things) that own something or someone; it introduces both defining clauses and non-defining clauses.

ANSWERS:

1. All of the zoo animals that were indoors were fed by four o’clock.

"That" is the correct option because it refers to animals. "Who", on the other hand, only refers to people.

2. The March Hare, who appears in the next chapter, is quite eccentric.

"Who" is the correct option because it refers to the name of a character in Alice in Wonderland.

3. The French soldiers, who arrived after dark, went without supper.

"Who" is the correct option because it refers to "the French soldiers" (people). And even though "that" is also used to refer to people, it is not correct to place it here because the clause given is a non-defining one (it is set off by commas) and "that" is used to introduce defining clauses only.

4. I am reading a biography of Napoleon, which is a remarkable book.

"which" is correct because it refers to the "biography" (a thing), and it introduces a non-defining clause.