Move the preposition to the front, count with of whom / of which, and write with the polish of a formal report.
You already build simple relative clauses: the man who called, the book that I read. At B2 the goal is control in a formal, academic register — the English of essays, reports and serious articles. Three moves make the difference: putting the preposition before whom / which, using a quantifier + of whom / of which, and handling non-defining clauses with confidence.
These structures let you pack precise information into a single, elegant sentence, without the loose feel of everyday speech. Compare the two versions below and notice how the second one sounds measured and professional.
Fix the basic pronouns first, because every advanced pattern grows from them. Whom is the object form of who, and it is the form you must use after a preposition.
| Pronoun | Refers to | Example |
|---|---|---|
| who | a person (subject) | the analyst who wrote the report |
| whom | a person (object / after a preposition) | the analyst to whom we replied |
| which | a thing (and after a preposition) | the fund from which it came |
| whose | possession (people or things) | the firm whose shares fell |
| where / when | a place / a time | the year when she resigned |
In everyday English the preposition often sits at the end: the way which we did it in → usually the way we did it in. In formal writing you lift the preposition to the front, in front of whom (people) or which (things). The clause instantly sounds more academic.
| Informal (end) | Formal (front) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| the manager I reported to | the manager to whom I reported | bir kişiye rapor verdim |
| the account we paid it from | the account from which we paid | bir hesaptan ödedik |
| the method he worked it out with | the method with which he worked | bir yöntemle çalıştı |
| the way she solved it in | the way in which she solved it | bir biçimde çözdü |
When you want to say something about part of a group, join the two ideas with a quantifier + of whom (people) or of which (things). This always appears in a non-defining clause, so it needs a comma before it.
| Two sentences | One clause |
|---|---|
| I have three sisters. All of them are doctors. | I have three sisters, all of whom are doctors. |
| She wrote fifty essays. Some of them were published. | She wrote fifty essays, some of which were published. |
| They offered two options. Neither of them worked. | They offered two options, neither of which worked. |
| We hired ten staff. Both of them stayed. | We hired two staff, both of whom stayed. |
Whose replaces a possessive (his, her, its, their). Many learners think it is only for people, but it works for things and organisations too, which is very useful in formal writing.
A defining clause tells you which one — it is essential, so it takes no commas. A non-defining clause adds extra, optional information between commas. The choice changes both punctuation and the pronoun you may use.
| Defining (no commas) | Non-defining (commas) | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | identifies which one (essential) | adds extra detail (optional) |
| Example | The report that she wrote is on my desk. | The report, which she wrote overnight, is excellent. |
| "that"? | allowed (that / which / who) | never "that" → use which / whom |
You can often drop the relative pronoun and the verb "be", leaving just a participle. This makes writing lighter, and it is common in formal descriptions.
| Full clause | Reduced clause |
|---|---|
| the man who is standing there | the man standing there |
| the bridge which was built in 1890 | the bridge built in 1890 |
| the people who were invited | the people invited |
These are the errors B2 students still make with relative clauses. Check your own writing against every row.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| The client to who I spoke complained. | The client to whom I spoke complained. | after a preposition, use whom, not who. |
| Berlin, that I love, is a great city. | Berlin, which I love, is a great city. | no "that" in a non-defining clause. |
| a report, some which of was secret | a report, some of which was secret | the order is quantifier + of + which. |
| the fund which the money came from it | the fund from which the money came | do not keep the extra "it" / "from". |
| the writer who's book won a prize | the writer whose book won a prize | whose = possessive; who's = who is. |
Two researchers discuss a grant application. Read it twice and watch the advanced structures: preposition + whom / which, quantifier + of whom, whose, and non-defining clauses set off by commas.
Choose the correct answer. — 10 questions, each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Learn the words, then describe an influential figure or place using relative clauses.
Write 8 sentences about a person, place or institution that has shaped you — a teacher, a family member, a school, a book, a city. Use at least 8 of the words above.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
Read the text, then answer the questions.
Good readers prepare before they start. Before you read, think about these three questions (you do not need to write the answers):
Words to spot (from the Speaking section): institution · legacy · distinguished · prominent · patron · oversee · recognition · devote
Few visitors to the National Museum of Anatolia realise how close it came to never opening. The institution, whose collection now attracts millions, was almost abandoned in the 1970s. The person to whom it owes its survival is Dr Nermin Aksoy, a distinguished archaeologist whose determination proved decisive.
To understand the crisis, one must picture the Turkey of that era, in which cultural spending was among the first things to be cut whenever budgets grew tight. The old exhibition hall, whose roof had begun to leak, held crates of artefacts that had waited years to be catalogued. Officials to whom the matter was referred tended to shrug; a museum, in their view, was a luxury for which the treasury simply had no money. Boxes of pottery, coins and weathered inscriptions, most of which had been excavated decades earlier, sat forgotten in damp storerooms where no visitor could ever see them. Some of the finest pieces, the value of which no one had even bothered to measure, were wrapped in old newspaper and stacked on wooden shelves. It was against this discouraging background, in a decade during which many similar projects were quietly shelved, that Aksoy, then in her early forties, decided the collection deserved a permanent home worthy of the civilisations it represented.
Aksoy had trained under several prominent scholars, many of whom doubted that a national museum could ever be funded. Although the odds were against her, she assembled a committee of thirty experts, some of whom later became ministers. The plan on which they eventually agreed was ambitious; moreover, it was expensive. Her rivals wanted a modest gallery, whereas Aksoy insisted on a single building in which the entire history of the region could be displayed.
The committee, whose meetings often lasted late into the night, was far from united. There were members for whom caution was everything, and others who shared Aksoy's appetite for risk. One senior colleague, whose scepticism she never quite forgave, argued that a grand museum would collapse under its own running costs, and warned that the public for whom it was intended would soon lose interest. Aksoy listened to every objection, yet the argument to which she always returned was disarmingly simple: a nation that hides its past cannot truly be proud of it. She travelled from city to city, giving lectures in draughty halls to audiences some of whom had never once set foot in a museum. She wrote letters to editors, to ministers, and to anyone whose signature might carry weight. Slowly the mood began to shift, and journalists who had earlier ignored the scheme started to write about the woman whose stubbornness refused to let it die.
The funding, without which nothing would have happened, came from an unexpected source. A private foundation, the director of which had studied with Aksoy, offered a substantial grant. The conditions to which the money was attached were strict; nevertheless, Aksoy accepted them, since she had no alternative.
The negotiations through which the grant was finally secured were exhausting. The foundation's trustees, to whom every figure had to be justified, insisted on a detailed plan for the decades to come. 'We admire your vision,' one trustee told her across a long table, 'but a building whose upkeep no one can afford is not a gift; it is a burden.' Aksoy, for whom failure was by now unthinkable, spent months preparing budgets, forecasts and maintenance schedules, many of which she drafted herself late at night. The clause on which the trustees insisted most firmly required the museum to remain free to schoolchildren for ever — a condition to which Aksoy agreed without a moment's hesitation, since it matched her own deepest beliefs about who a museum is really for. Only when every last document had been signed, and every promise on which the money depended had been made, did she allow herself to believe that the museum about which she had dreamed for so long might truly rise.
The architect chosen for the project, whose earlier designs had won awards, produced a building admired to this day. However, the galleries were not finished on time; therefore, the opening was delayed by a year. Each of the halls, all of which follow a clear theme, guides visitors through five thousand years. Aksoy personally oversaw every stage and devoted a decade to the endeavour.
Construction became a saga in its own right. The site on which the building rose had once been an olive grove, beneath which archaeologists soon uncovered the remains of an ancient wall. The work, which everyone had expected to take three years, halted while these unforeseen finds were carefully recorded — a delay that, ironically, enriched the very collection the museum would one day house. The architect, with whom Aksoy corresponded almost daily, redesigned an entire wing so that the ancient wall could be shown where it stood, protected behind glass through which visitors now gaze in wonder. There were months during which funds ran alarmingly low, and moments at which even Aksoy quietly wondered whether the doubters had been right. Yet when the doors at last swung open, the crowds for whom she had fought poured inside, and the same newspapers that had once dismissed her printed her photograph across their front pages.
Aksoy, who never sought recognition, retired quietly in 1995. 'A museum,' she once said, 'is not the walls within which objects sit; it is the people for whom those objects still speak.' Her portrait now hangs by the entrance, yet few know her name — a quiet legacy of which she would surely have approved.
Today the National Museum of Anatolia is a place to which scholars travel from every continent. Its galleries, in which schoolchildren sketch statues older than any empire, welcome more people in a single week than the old hall had seen in an entire year. The guides who lead the daily tours still repeat the story of the archaeologist without whom none of it would exist, and the words with which she ended her career — about walls, objects and the people for whom those objects speak — are engraved on a plaque beside her portrait. Visitors for whom the name Aksoy means nothing pause there all the same, drawn by a face whose quiet determination somehow still reaches across the years, and they leave knowing a little more about the woman to whom the museum owes everything.
Choose the correct answer.
Are these sentences true or false, according to the text?
Complete each sentence with ONE word from the text. Mind the relative structure (whom / which / on / of).
Write your answer in your own words. These questions are not marked automatically.
1. How did the vision of Aksoy differ from that of her rivals?
2. Why did Aksoy accept the foundation's strict conditions?
3. What do you think Aksoy meant by saying a museum is "the people for whom those objects still speak"?
Find these connectors in the text — each one appears at least once: however, therefore, nevertheless, although, whereas, moreover, since, yet. (You will use these same connectors in the Writing section.) Note them down, then check.
Combine short facts into elegant relative-clause sentences, then drill the grammar with 10 quick questions.
Below are short, separate facts about a made-up scientist, Dr Elif Demir. Your job is to combine them into fluent sentences using this unit's relative clauses — preposition + whom/which, quantifier + of whom/which, whose, and non-defining clauses.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
10 quick questions on advanced relative clauses. Each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Write and submit your paragraph; your teacher will review it.
At B1 you linked ideas with and, but, so, because. At B2 you sound noticeably more advanced when you use formal, precise connectors. Combine these with the relative clauses of this unit and your writing will read like a polished profile.
| Connector | Use it to... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| moreover | add a stronger, extra point | She was a fine teacher. Moreover, she was a patron of the arts. |
| therefore | show a logical result | No one would fund it; therefore, she funded it herself. |
| whereas | contrast two ideas directly | Others sought fame, whereas she sought no recognition. |
| nevertheless | say "in spite of that" | The task was huge. Nevertheless, she persevered. |
| although | concede a point inside one sentence | Although she avoided the spotlight, her legacy is famous. |
| however | contrast between two sentences | I admire many people. However, one stands out. |
See the difference — the same facts, written two ways:
| Basic linking ✗ | Confident B2 writing ✓ |
|---|---|
| My grandmother was a teacher. She taught many students. They still respect her. She never wanted fame. I admire her. | My grandmother, whose patience I still remember, taught hundreds of students, many of whom still respect her. Although she never sought fame, her influence was enormous; therefore, she is the person to whom I owe the most. |
A "portrait of influence" paragraph has three parts. The skeleton stays the same — you change the content, not the structure:
| Part | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Opening | Introduce the person or institution with a non-defining clause | The person to whom I owe the most is my old physics teacher, whose passion was contagious. |
| 2. Body | Explain the influence. Use preposition + whom/which, quantifier + of whom/which and whose, linked with B2 connectors. | He gave us projects, most of which seemed impossible; nevertheless, we finished them. |
| 3. Closing | A final comment about the lasting effect or legacy | It is a legacy for which I remain deeply grateful. |
Write about a person, place or institution that has shaped you, your studies or your community. Describe the influence, not just the facts. Use the relative clauses of this unit.
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will evaluate your writing.)
Mixed questions from the whole unit, then check what you can do.
14 questions: grammar + vocabulary + reading. Each question is marked instantly.
Tick what you can do now. Honest answers help your teacher.
İşaretlemediğin madde varsa ilgili bölüme dönüp tekrar çalış — soldaki menüden her bölüme geri dönebilirsin.
Oturum kontrol ediliyor...