C1 Grammar WPWord Play
Home›C1›Grammar›Relative Clauses (advanced)
Ch 5

Relative Clauses (advanced)

Participle clauses · whom/which · clause-which

Advanced relative clauses

At C1, relative clauses extend to participle clauses, fronting, and complex prepositional structures for elegant academic and literary register.

Reduced (active)
people working here = people who are working here
Reduced (passive)
letters sent last week = letters that were sent
Prepositional + whom/which
the person to whom I spoke; the matter about which we agreed
Quantifier + of which/whom
She has three sisters, two of whom are doctors.

Participle (reduced) clauses

Present participle (active)
The man standing by the door is my uncle.
Past participle (passive)
The bridge built in 1900 is still in use.
Perfect participle
Having finished her work, she went home.
Passive perfect participle
Having been told the news, she fainted.

Prepositional structures: formal vs informal

Informal (preposition at end)
The book I'm thinking of...
The friend I went with...
The matter we spoke about...
Formal (prep + whom/which)
The book of which I'm thinking...
The friend with whom I went...
The matter about which we spoke...

Quantifier + of + relative pronoun

all/most/some/none
She has many friends, most of whom are abroad.
both/either/neither
He bought two books, both of which were excellent.
Number + of
There are 20 students, three of whom are foreign.
Superlative + of
She has many talents, the greatest of which is her empathy.

"Which" referring to a whole clause

Comment
He didn't reply, which annoyed me.
Result/consequence
Sales rose 30%, which exceeded all expectations.
After preposition
She refused to apologise, about which she later regretted nothing.
More formal
The economy contracted, a fact which raises serious concerns.

Common mistakes

The person to who I spoke was helpful.
→
The person to whom I spoke was helpful.
prep + whom (not who) in formal usage
She has three children, both of whom are doctors.
→
She has three children, all of whom are doctors.
both = 2; for 3+ use all
The bridge build in 1900 is still in use.
→
The bridge built in 1900 is still in use.
passive reduced clause = past participle (built)

Recap

Reduced active
-ing form
people working here
Reduced passive
-ed/PP form
bridge built in 1900
Formal prep
prep + whom/which
to whom / about which
Quantifier
most/all/both + of + whom/which
both of which were red
Practice now →