The relative pronoun whose can be used in Adjective Clauses when it is important to show possession. In Adjective Clauses, whose must be followed by a noun. It can be used for both people and things:

  • The man whose jacket is on the seat left five minutes ago.
  • I work for a company whose manager went to high school with my father.
  • This is a song whose singer is from South America.

Where can be used in Adjective Clauses to describe a place. When can be used to describe a time. Both when and where are only used in Adjective Clauses as objects.

  • Let's go to the park where we played soccer last week.
  • The building where we study English has four floors.
  • Saturday is the day when we should meet.
  • We met during the holiday when we had a four-day weekend.

In spoken or less-formal English, prepositions such as at, in, which, about etc.usually go at the end of Adjective Clauses. In more formal English, we can use the following patterns:

preposition + whom
preposition + which

 

  • The man who we were talking about actually came in to the room five minutes ago. (Spoken / Less-Formal)
  • The man about whom we were talking actually came in to the room five minutes ago. (Formal)

 

  • We bought our new bed at the store which we bought the sofa at. (Spoken / Less-Formal)
  • We bought our new bed at the store at which we bought the sofa. (Formal)

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