Virtuous English AcademyAdvanced Relative Clauses in English (B1)
- #B1
- #Grammar
- #Rules
- #Examples
This lesson extends relative clauses with whose for possession, whom in formal English, and clauses with prepositions. It helps you combine ideas into more sophisticated, natural sentences.
Once defining and non-defining clauses are secure, B1 adds the structures that make relative clauses genuinely flexible: prepositions inside relative clauses, quantifiers with of whom and of which, and reduced relative clauses that drop the pronoun and the verb entirely.
The preposition question is the most practical. English allows two positions — the natural spoken one, where the preposition stays at the end of the clause, and the formal written one, where it moves in front of the pronoun. The man I spoke to and The man to whom I spoke say the same thing in very different registers.
Reduced relative clauses are what make written English concise. The people who are waiting outside becomes The people waiting outside; the report which was written last year becomes the report written last year. Recognising these reductions is essential for reading, and using them is a clear step towards B2 writing.
How to form Advanced Relative Clauses
| Structure | Register | Example |
|---|---|---|
| preposition at the end | neutral, spoken | The person I work with is away. |
| preposition + whom/which | formal, written | The person with whom I work is away. |
| quantifier + of whom | formal | I have two brothers, both of whom live abroad. |
| quantifier + of which | formal | She wrote five books, none of which sold well. |
| reduced — active | neutral | The man standing by the door. (who is standing) |
| reduced — passive | neutral | The letters sent yesterday. (which were sent) |
| which for a whole clause | neutral | He resigned, which shocked everyone. |
Advanced Relative Clauses: the key rules
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Prepositions can move in front of the pronoun in formal style: the person to whom, the house in which.
The committee to whom the report was sent approved it.
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Which can refer to a whole previous clause, with a comma.
The flight was delayed again, which ruined our plans.
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Quantifier + of + whom/which packs information elegantly.
She has three brothers, all of whom are engineers.
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Where, when and why replace preposition + which after place, time and reason nouns.
That was the year when everything changed; the reason why I stayed.
When to use Advanced Relative Clauses
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Writing formally
Fronted prepositions and of whom structures signal a formal, careful register.
The colleagues to whom the report was circulated have all responded.
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Making writing more concise
Reduced clauses cut words without losing meaning, which improves readability.
Anyone interested in the role should email us.
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Quantifying a group
Of whom and of which let you describe part of a previously mentioned set.
There were thirty applicants, most of whom had no experience.
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Commenting on an entire situation
Which after a comma can refer to the whole preceding clause.
The flight was cancelled, which left us stranded overnight.
Preposition at the end vs. fronted
Both are correct English. The choice signals register, not accuracy — despite an old prescriptive rule claiming otherwise.
End position — natural and common
Standard in speech and in most writing. The pronoun can often be dropped entirely.
The house we live in. The person I was talking about.
Fronted — formal
Preposition before whom or which. The pronoun cannot be dropped, and that is impossible.
The house in which we live. The person about whom I was talking.
Advanced Relative Clauses in example sentences
- The team I work with is very supportive.Preposition at the end, pronoun dropped.
- The conditions under which they work are poor.Fronted preposition — formal register.
- She has three sisters, all of whom are doctors.Quantifier with of whom.
- He made several promises, none of which he kept.of which for things.
- The woman living next door is a vet.Reduced from who is living.
- Documents signed before Friday will be processed.Reduced passive from which are signed.
- The train was delayed, which made us late.which commenting on the whole clause.
- Students wishing to apply should register online.Reduced clause in formal notice English.
Advanced Relative Clauses in a real conversation
Notice the shift in register — the formal structures cluster in the written quotation.
Editor:Who's the writer you mentioned yesterday?
Assistant:Nadia Halim. She's the one whose last book won the prize.
Editor:What's the article about?
Assistant:She interviewed forty workers, most of whom asked to stay anonymous.
Editor:And the opening line?
Assistant:The conditions in which these people work have not changed since 1990.
Common mistakes (and how to fix them)
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The team lost again, that surprised nobody.
The team lost again, which surprised nobody.
Only which can pick up a whole clause — that never follows a comma.
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The people with who I work are friendly.
The people with whom I work are friendly. / The people I work with are friendly.
Directly after a preposition the form must be whom — or move the preposition to the end and drop the pronoun.
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She has two laptops, both of them are broken.
She has two laptops, both of which are broken.
Joining two clauses needs the relative of which — 'of them' creates a comma splice.
Practise Advanced Relative Clauses today
Practise moving between registers — the same idea in formal and informal form.
- Write four sentences with the preposition at the end, then rewrite each formally.
- Write four sentences using all of whom, most of which, none of whom and some of which.
- Reduce six full relative clauses, three active and three passive.
- Expand four reduced clauses back into full relative clauses with pronoun and verb.
Advanced Relative Clauses: frequently asked questions
Is it wrong to end a sentence with a preposition?
No. That rule was imported from Latin grammar in the seventeenth century and has never described how English actually works. The house I live in is completely standard and is what nearly every native speaker would say. The fronted version, the house in which I live, is equally correct but distinctly formal. Choose according to register, not correctness.
How do reduced relative clauses work?
You drop the relative pronoun together with the verb be. For active meanings the verb becomes an -ing form: the man who is waiting becomes the man waiting. For passive meanings it becomes a past participle: the car which was stolen becomes the car stolen. Reduction is only possible when the pronoun is the subject of the relative clause.
When do I need of whom rather than whose?
Whose shows possession directly — the writer whose book won. Of whom is used with a quantifier to describe part of a group — twenty students, five of whom failed. They are not interchangeable: you cannot say the writer of whom book won. Both are formal, but whose is far more common and works in speech as well as writing.
Can I reduce a non-defining clause?
Yes, and it is common in written English: My brother, who lives in Rome, becomes My brother, living in Rome. The commas stay in place. However the reduced version can read as slightly literary, and it occasionally introduces ambiguity about whether the clause is defining. In exam writing, keeping non-defining clauses in full is usually the safer choice.