who / which / that
RuleA relative pronoun (who/which/that) introduces a clause that describes a noun (the antecedent). who = people, which = things, that = both.
Curiosity
How do you combine "The candidate was hired." and "The candidate speaks French." into one sentence?
Intuition
The relative pronoun replaces the repeated noun and links a describing clause to it. It points back to the antecedent.
Visualization
See the parts: the antecedent and the relative pronoun are highlighted; the rest is the clause modifying the noun. The relation: "who → refers to the candidate."
A relative pronoun links a describing clause to its antecedent.
The candidatewhospeaks Frenchwas hired
Essence
who (people, subject), whom (people, object), which (things), that (people/things, not after a comma or preposition), whose (possession). Omit the relative pronoun when it is the object of its clause. TOEIC tests who vs which vs whose.
Examples
The employee who speaks three languages was promoted.
The building which was renovated last year is ours.
This is the report that I mentioned earlier.
Mini-quiz
"We hired a consultant ___ has ten years of experience." Which fits?