Whose
We use
whose in relative clauses instead of
his/
her/
their:
we helped some people -
their car had broken down
→ We helped some people
whose car had broken down.
We use
whose mostly for people:
- A widow is a woman whose husband is dead. (her husband is dead)
- What's the name of the man whose car you borrowed? (you borrowed his car)
- I met someone whose brother I went to school with. (I went to school with his/her brother)
Compare
who and
whose:
- I met a man who knows you. (he knows you)
- I met a man whose sister knows you. (his sister knows you)
Whom
Whom is possible instead of
who when it is the
object of the verb in the relative clause (like the sentences in Unit 938):
- George is a person whom I admire very much. (I admire him)
You can also use
whom with a preposition (
to whom /
from whom /
with whom etc.):
- I like the people with whom I work. (I work with them)
Whom is a formal word and we do not often use it in this way. We usually prefer
who or
that, or nothing (see Unit 93). So we usually say:
- ... a person who/that I admire a lot or ... a person I admire a lot
- ... the people who/that I work with or ... the people I work with
Where
You can use
where in a relative clause to talk about a place:
the restaurant - we had lunch
there - it was near the airport
→ The restaurant
where we had lunch was near the airport.
- I recently went back to the town where I grew up.
(or ... the town I grew up in or ... the town that I grew up in) - I would like to live in a place where there is plenty of sunshine.
94.1 You met these people at a party:
The next day you tell a friend about these people. Complete the sentences using who or whose.
94.2 Read the situations and complete the sentences using where.
94.3 Complete each sentence using who/whom/whose/where.
94.4 Use your own ideas to complete these sentences. They are like the examples in Sections D and E.
