Basics. Relative Clauses with Quantifiers

Hard C1 | Advanced Clause Comma Complex sentence Coordination Determiner Negation Possessive Preposition Pronoun Punctuation Relative clause

Relative Clauses with Quantifiers

Combining a quantifier with a relative pronoun allows you to specify a portion of a group in a single, elegant sentence. For example, instead of writing a comma splice like "I bought five apples, two of them are bad," you should use a relative clause: "I bought five apples, two of which are bad." This structure always uses an object pronoun after the preposition: whom for people, which for things, and whose for possession.

This challenge tests your ability to apply these advanced rules across a variety of bizarre scenarios. You will decide between which for objects (like cursed antique clocks and rock-hard fruitcakes), whom for people (like dragon-taming job candidates and wandering tourists), and the tricky possessive whose (for eccentric aunts with insulting parrots). You'll also practice identifying correct structures with quantifiers like neither, none, half, and some to avoid sneaky comma splices.

You'll work through 10 questions in a fun mix of single-choice, multi-choice, drop-down, and drag-and-drop formats.

Try the quiz to check your knowledge!

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Clause

I missed the bus. — ✅ independent clause (stands alone)
Because I overslept. — ❌ fragment (dependent clause, can't stand alone)
Because I overslept, I missed the bus. — ✅ dependent + independent = complete sentence
I missed the bus, and I was late. — ✅ two independent clauses joined by and

A clause is a unit built around a verb with a subject. Independent = can stand alone. Dependent = needs an independent clause to complete it.

Test: does the group of words have a subject + verb AND can it be a sentence on its own? Yes → independent clause. Has a subject + verb but feels incomplete → dependent clause.

Comma

✅ apples, pears, and figs — list separator
✅ My brother, a doctor, called. — non-essential info set off by commas
✅ I went home, and she stayed. — comma before conjunction joining two clauses
❌ I went home and she stayed. — missing comma (two independent clauses need one before and)

The comma ( , ) separates elements within a sentence: list items, non-essential phrases, introductory words, and clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions.

Rule: if two independent clauses are joined by and/but/or, put a comma before the conjunction. If it's just a compound verb (same subject), no comma.

Complex sentence

✅ Because I overslept, I missed the bus. — dependent clause (reason) + independent
✅ The man who called is my uncle. — relative clause inside the sentence
✅ If it rains, we'll stay inside. — conditional dependent + independent
❌ Because I overslept. — fragment (dependent clause alone)

A complex sentence pairs an independent clause with one or more dependent clauses linked by subordinating conjunctions (because, although, if, when) or relative pronouns (who, which, that).

Pattern: independent clause = the main point. Dependent clause = the background, reason, or condition. Move the dependent clause around for emphasis.

Coordination

✅ I like reading, swimming, and cooking. — parallel verb forms
❌ I like reading, swim, and to cook. — broken parallelism
✅ She is smart and hardworking. — adjective + adjective
❌ She is smart and works hard. — adjective + clause (mismatched)

Coordination links grammatically equal elements with a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but). The golden rule: all items in a coordinated structure must be the same form.

Test: replace the conjunction with a bullet list. Do all items have the same grammatical shape? If not, you have a parallelism error.

Determiner

✅ The cat sat on a mat. — articles as determiners
✅ My sister has three dogs. — possessive + numeral as determiners
❌ I went to the home. — wrong (idiomatic: I went home — no determiner)
❌ She is a good student. ✅ vs She is good student. ❌ — missing determiner

A determiner sits before a noun to specify which, how many, or whose. Types include articles, demonstratives, possessives, and quantifiers.

Rule: most singular countable nouns in English require a determiner — a cat, the cat, my cat, this cat. Dropping it (cat sat on mat) breaks the sentence.

Negation

✅ I don't see anything. — ❌ I don't see nothing. (double negative in standard English)
✅ She never goes out. — never already negates (no doesn't needed)
✅ He doesn't like coffee. — do-support for negation
✅ Nobody came. — negative subject (no auxiliary needed)

Negation uses not after an auxiliary/modal, or do-support when there's no auxiliary. One negative per clause in standard English — never, nobody, nothing already negate without adding not.

Rule: one negative element per clause. I don't see anything or I see nothing — never both together in standard English.

Possessive

✅ its tail — ❌ it's tail (it's = it is, not possessive)
✅ the students' essays — plural possessive (apostrophe after the s)
✅ Sarah's book — singular possessive ('s)
✅ a friend of mine — possessive pronoun (not my)

Possessives show ownership: nouns use 's (singular) or s' (plural ending in s). Pronouns have special forms: my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, our/ours, their/theirs.

Trap: its (possessive) vs it's (= it is). Possessive pronouns NEVER use apostrophes — that's the opposite of nouns.

Preposition

✅ interested in — ❌ interested on
✅ good at football — ❌ good in football
✅ depend on — ❌ depend of
✅ arrive at the station — ❌ arrive to the station

Prepositions link nouns to the rest of the sentence: time (at 5pm), place (in London), manner (with care), abstract (afraid of). Most are idiomatic — the "correct" preposition must be memorised with each verb/adjective combination.

Rule: there is no universal rule. English prepositions are learned by combination: interested IN, good AT, depend ON, afraid OF. Your native language's equivalent will often mislead.

Pronoun

✅ between you and me — ❌ between you and I (objective case after preposition)
✅ its colour — ❌ it's colour (it's = it is)
✅ She did it herself. — reflexive pronoun
✅ The person who called… — relative pronoun

Pronouns replace nouns: personal (I/me/my), demonstrative (this/that), relative (who/which/that), interrogative (who?/what?), reflexive (myself), indefinite (everyone/nobody). They carry case that nouns have lost.

Trap: pronouns are where English case still matters: I vs me, who vs whom, its vs it's. Get these wrong and it's instantly noticeable.

Punctuation

Period (.) — ends statements
Comma (,) — separates within sentences
Semicolon (;) — links related independent clauses
Colon (:) — introduces what follows
Question mark (?) — ends direct questions
Apostrophe (') — possession + contractions

Punctuation marks signal sentence structure to the reader: where thoughts end, how they connect, what's quoted, and what belongs to whom. ~12 marks, each with specific rules.

Key insight: punctuation isn't about pauses in speech. It's about grammatical structure. Learn the structure, and the punctuation follows.

Relative clause

✅ The man who called is my uncle. — restrictive (essential: which man?)
✅ My uncle, who lives in Paris, called. — non-restrictive (extra info, commas)
❌ My uncle that lives in Paris — wrong (that can't introduce non-restrictive)
✅ The book that I read = The book I read — restrictive (pronoun optional)

Relative clauses modify nouns using who/whom/whose/which/that or where/when/why. Restrictive = essential, no commas, that OK. Non-restrictive = extra, needs commas, uses which/who (never that).

Rule: if you can remove the clause and still know which noun is meant → non-restrictive (commas). If removing it makes the noun ambiguous → restrictive (no commas).

C1 | Advanced

✅ Not only did she finish early, but she also helped others. — inversion for emphasis
✅ It is the process that matters, not the result. — cleft sentence
✅ I insist that he be present. — formal subjunctive
✅ Were I to disagree, I would say so. — inverted conditional

These are C1 structures — the CEFR advanced level. At C1 you control inversion, cleft sentences, subjunctive forms, and register-switching fluently across formal and informal contexts.

Marker: if you can restructure a sentence for rhetorical effect without hesitation, you're C1.

Hard

Had she not intervened, the situation would have escalated. — inverted conditional
All distractors are grammatically plausible in other contexts
Multiple rules interact (e.g., tense + aspect + modality)
Context determines the answer — no single "rule" is enough

Hard marks upper-intermediate to advanced challenges: B2+, interacting rules, edge cases, plausible distractors, and contexts where pattern-matching fails.

Use "Hard" when Easy/Medium feel trivial and you want to test whether you actually understand a rule versus just recognising surface patterns.