Question 1

What is the best strategy for combining sentences with relative pronouns?

Accepted Answer

Use a three-step method. First, read both sentences and underline the word or phrase that appears in both — this is the shared element. Second, decide what type it is: a person (use "who" or "that"), a thing (use "which" or "that"), a place (use "where"), a time (use "when"), or a possession (use "whose"). Third, replace the repeated element with the pronoun and join the sentences. The relative clause must go directly after the noun it describes. For example: "I know a girl. She plays the violin." Shared element: "a girl" = "she" (person). Result: "I know a girl who plays the violin."

Question 2

Do I always need a relative pronoun when combining sentences?

Accepted Answer

No, sometimes you can leave out the relative pronoun. This is possible when the pronoun is the object of the clause, not the subject. Compare: "The book which I read" — "which" is the object (I is the subject), so you can say "The book I read." But in "The book which is on the table," "which" is the subject, so you cannot remove it. You can never leave out "whose," and "where" can only be omitted if you add a preposition at the end of the clause (e.g., "The city I live in" instead of "The city where I live"). You can sometimes drop "when": "I remember the day we met" is correct. At B1-B2 level, focus first on getting the right pronoun; pronoun omission is a skill you can polish later.

Question 3

What happens to the repeated word when I combine sentences?

Accepted Answer

The repeated word is replaced by the relative pronoun, so you must remove it. "I have a friend. She lives in Paris" becomes "I have a friend who lives in Paris" — "she" disappears because "who" takes its place. If you keep both, the sentence is wrong: "a friend who she lives in Paris." The same applies to all pronouns: "whose" replaces "his/her/their," "where" replaces "here/there," and "when" replaces "then/at that time." Always check your combined sentence to make sure the repeated element has been removed completely.

Mixed Sentence Combining Practice

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Relative Clauses Error Correction

Who vs Which

Defining vs Non-Defining

-ed vs -ing Adjectives

Conditionals

Present Perfect