S2 English | Relative Clauses: Tutor Prep Guide | Who and Which, Commas, Defining and Non-defining

2026-11-13

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Junior English

Students can write the man who but lose control at the first comma, and still produce the book which I bought it. This lesson lands three things: pronoun choice, what a comma decides, and when the object pronoun can be dropped.

Objectives — Students can: (1) choose the relative pronoun from the antecedent, who for people, which for things, whose for possession, where for places, when for times, and explain that that belongs to defining clauses only; (2) explain what the commas do, since a non-defining clause needs commas on both sides, cannot use that and cannot drop the object pronoun, while a defining clause reverses all three; (3) find and delete a repeated object pronoun, which is why the book which I bought it is wrong.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Word classes	Which of who and which refers to people, and which to things?	Who is for people, which for things; a wrong answer breaks every choice later
Clause structure	Does a relative clause have its own subject and verb?	A relative clause needs its own subject and verb, or it becomes a fragment
Punctuation	What do commas usually signal in an English sentence?	Extra information, not a pause for effect

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Vocabulary check	Ask for an English sentence meaning I know a doctor who lives in Tai Po and write it unchanged	Give their own version, errors allowed
5-14 min	Six pronouns	List who, which, whose, where, when and that, asking what antecedent each one takes	Name the antecedent type for each pronoun
14-23 min	Commas decide meaning	Write the same sentence with and without commas and ask what changes	Explain that commas mark extra information, no commas mark identification
23-32 min	Dropping the object	Write the book which I bought and the book which I bought it, then ask which is wrong	Find the repeated it and say when which can be dropped
32-41 min	Four mixed items	Set four items (person, thing, place, possession) and have students choose and punctuate	Complete all four and circle errors
41-45 min	Exit check	Collect three answers and mark correct, partial or wrong	Hand in three answers

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Act 1: pronoun choice follows the antecedent, not taste

“If the antecedent is a person, use who. If it is a thing, use which. For possession, whose. For a place, where. For a time, when. That covers people and things, but only in defining clauses. The man which is not a hard grammar problem, it means you did not read the antecedent. So read the antecedent first, every time.”

Say it back: people take who, things take which.

Scene 2: Act 2: one comma changes the whole sentence

“My brother who lives in Tai Po is a doctor and My brother, who lives in Tai Po, is a doctor do not mean the same thing. Without commas I may have several brothers and this clause picks one out. With commas I have one brother and the clause is extra detail. So commas carry meaning, not decoration. A non-defining clause also has two more rules: no that, and the object pronoun cannot be dropped.”

Say it back: commas mark extra information and come in pairs.

Scene 3: Act 3: a repeated object is the invisible error

“The book which I bought it yesterday is wrong because of it. Which already stands for the book, so a second object repeats it. There are two correct versions: the book which I bought yesterday, or the book I bought yesterday. Whether you can drop the pronoun depends on its job: an object which can go, but a subject who cannot. The man who called you cannot become the man called you, because that changes the meaning completely.”

Say it back: a clause with which cannot also take it.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Choose the pronoun	The girl ___ won the prize is my cousin.	Read the antecedent, choose who for a person, check whether the clause still needs a subject	who
Possession	I met a writer ___ books are famous.	Look for a noun after the gap, then use whose plus that noun	whose
Non-defining join	My father is a teacher. He works in Sha Tin.	Add commas on both sides, use who, and avoid that	My father, who works in Sha Tin, is a teacher.
Delete the repeated object	The film which we watched it was boring.	Find the object inside the clause, delete it because which already carries it	The film which we watched was boring.

Sanity check (teach this): Sanity checks: a person as antecedent rules out which; whose must be followed directly by a noun, not by a verb; a non-defining clause needs two commas, and one comma alone is a punctuation error; that inside a non-defining clause is always wrong; a clause holding both which and it repeats the object; before deleting a pronoun, read the sentence again and confirm it still parses.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
The house ___ we bought last year is near the beach.	which	Check that the pronoun matches a thing, not a person
Miss Lee, ___ teaches English, is very patient.	who	Check that the student notices the commas and avoids that
The man who called you yesterday.	The man who called you yesterday is my uncle.	Check that the student sees the missing main clause

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Thing pronoun for a person	The teacher which teaches us is kind.	The antecedent is a person, the teacher, so the pronoun is who. Say the antecedent first, then the pronoun, instead of guessing.
That in a non-defining clause	My uncle, that lives in Japan, is a chef.	Commas make the clause non-defining, and non-defining clauses never take that. Use who. Once the comma appears, that must go.
Repeated object	The song which I like it is on the radio.	Which already means the song, so it says it twice. Delete it, or delete which entirely.
One comma only	My sister, who is ten is at school.	A non-defining clause opens and closes with a comma. Open one and you must close it, otherwise the reader cannot tell where the clause ends.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

English subject index: redo the four pronoun-choice items (person, thing, place, possession) — Relative clauses chapter, practice items 1 and 2
English subject index: join two sentence pairs, one defining and one non-defining — Relative clauses chapter, practice item 3

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
I know a boy ___ father is a pilot.	whose	Answering who means possession is not secure
Can a non-defining clause use that?	No, it takes who or which, with commas on both sides	Answering yes means the comma rule is unclear
What is wrong with the book which I read it?	It repeats the object, since which already means the book	Missing the repeat means the object rule is unclear

09 Tutor FAQ

Which year is this chapter for?

S2, and useful before S3 writing as a sentence-pattern repair; the focus is choice, commas and omission rather than a memorised pronoun list.

Can three acts fit in 45 minutes?

Yes. Each act runs about nine minutes, leaving the four mixed items and the exit check; avoid drilling ten items per pronoun.

Is there matching practice?

Yes. The subject index links this chapter to its practice items, with answers on the page for immediate marking.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.