CARROTTA
carrotta.net
🔗 Compendium
Grammar
EN
English — whose / where / when / why relatives
Besides who, which and that, English uses whose for possession and where, when and why to link a clause to a place, a time or a reason: the town where I was born, the reason why she left.
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How it works
✓ Rule
Whose replaces a possessive and links to any noun: the writer whose book won. Where, when and why follow a noun of place, time or reason: the house where we live, the day when we met, the reason why he called. After a place, time or reason noun you can often use that or drop the word: the day (that) we met.
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The four relative words
| Word / points to | Example |
|---|---|
| whose — possession | the girl whose dog ran away |
| whose — with things too | a house whose windows were broken |
| where — place | the town where I was born |
| when — time | the year when we moved |
| why — reason | the reason why she left |
| drop the word | the day we met / the reason she left |
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Good to know
⚠ Note
Do not confuse whose with who's (= who is): the man whose car is red, not the man who's car. Where, when and why can often be replaced by a preposition + which: the town in which I was born, the day on which we met — more formal but equivalent.