Grammar: Relative Clauses Worksheet (B2)

Relative clauses are what let a writer put two ideas in one sentence instead of two, which is most of the difference between B1 writing and B2 writing. The grammar is not hard; the comma rule carries real meaning and is worth the time.

Write who, which, that, whose, where or when. Where more than one is possible, write both.

Example: That is the shop which / that sells the best bread.

• The woman ________ car was stolen has gone to the police.
• This is the village ________ my mother grew up.
• Is that the man ________ you were telling me about?
• 2019 was the year ________ the factory closed.
• My neighbour, ________ works nights, sleeps until two.
• He failed the examination, ________ surprised nobody.

Add commas where they are needed. Two sentences need none. Then say what each sentence means.

Example: My sister who lives in Galle is a nurse. → My sister, who lives in Galle, is a nurse. (I have one sister.) Without commas it would mean I have more than one.

• The bus which leaves at six is always full. ____________
• Our head teacher who has been here for twenty years is retiring. ____________
• The parcel that arrived this morning was not for us. ____________
• Kandy which is in the hills is much cooler than Colombo. ____________
• The people who complained have been given their money back. ____________

Join each pair using a relative clause. Use commas where the extra information is not needed to identify anything.

Example: I met a woman. She had lived in five countries. → I met a woman who had lived in five countries.

• The film was three hours long. We saw it on Friday. → ____________________
• My uncle has sold his shop. He is seventy next month. → ____________________
• I still use the dictionary. My father gave it to me. → ____________________
• The hotel was fully booked. We wanted to stay there. → ____________________
• She missed the train. This meant she missed the interview. → ____________________

Each sentence has one mistake. Cross it out and write the correction.

Example: My brother, ~~that~~ who lives in Jaffna, is a doctor.

• The man which repaired my laptop was very quick. ____________
• The house where I was born in has been pulled down. ____________
• Students who they arrive late will not be admitted. ____________
• Ella, that is famous for its views, is two hours away. ____________
• This is the book I told you about it. ____________
• My best friend who I have known since we were six is getting married. ____________

Write six sentences about people and places you know, using six different relative pronouns. At least two must be non-defining, with commas, and at least one must use which to refer to a whole clause.

• ____________________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________________
• ____________________________________________________________

• Timing: Tasks 1 to 4 take about 35 minutes; Task 5 about 15, or set it as homework.
• Teach the commas as meaning, not as punctuation. Put My sister who lives in Galle and My sister, who lives in Galle on the board and ask how many sisters the writer has. Learners who see that the commas change the facts stop treating them as decoration.
• Read the pairs aloud. A non-defining clause has a pause and a drop in pitch at each comma; a defining clause runs straight through. Hearing it is faster than any rule.
• The repeated object is the error to hunt. The book which I read it, the man who I spoke to him: most learners' first languages allow this, so it survives long after the pronouns are secure.
• Task 3 is where B2 writing is built. Ask for the joined sentence aloud first, then written. Learners who can join two sentences aloud write noticeably longer, better-linked paragraphs within a few weeks.
• Extension: learners take a paragraph from their own recent writing and combine every pair of short sentences that share a noun. They usually find three or four, and the paragraph improves visibly.