Pronouns such as who, whom, whoever, whose, that, and which are used to introduce which kind of clause?

• A. Relative clause
• B. Noun clause
• C. Adverb clause
• D. Independent clause

Answer: (A)

Pronouns such as who, whom, whoever, whose, that, and which introduce relative clauses that describe or identify a noun in the sentence. A relative clause acts like an adjective: it gives extra information about the noun it follows, and it cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. For example, in a sentence like The teacher who arrived late apologized, the clause who arrived late adds detail about the noun teacher and is itself a dependent clause that relies on the noun. The other types of clauses serve different roles: a noun clause functions as a noun within the sentence, often as a subject or object; an adverb clause modifies a verb, adjective, or another adverb and is introduced by subordinating words like because, when, or although; an independent clause can stand on its own as a complete sentence. Since the listed pronouns introduce clauses that modify a noun, they’re signaling a relative clause.