Grammar Exercises on Proper Nouns and Relative Pronouns

Grammar is one of the most fundamental parts of any language, and the more grammar exercises you work out, the more clear and sure you will be when you use a particular grammatical component in your speech or writing. You would not even have to evaluate if what you are using is right or wrong. It will naturally occur to you, and you will be surprised at how good you have got at it.

Today, let us take a look at two important topics in English grammar. You would have definitely learnt about proper nouns. However, to just brush up on your knowledge of the topic, here are a few points about it. A proper noun is a type of noun that is used to specifically name a particular person, place, animal, thing or idea. It differs from a common noun in that it does not refer to more than one entity. It is specific and does not have a duplicate or a copy. For instance, there is just one Taj Mahal, one Statue of Liberty, one Barack Obama, etc.

Now, try to identify the proper nouns in the following sentences:

1. I have had the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa when I was a child.
2. My father’s name is Joseph.
3. The Eiffel Tower, at night, is a treat to the eyes and the heart.
4. I did not really think the movie ‘The Adam Project’ would interest me.
5. Newton’s Third Law of Motion is one of the most popular concepts in the history of physics.

Find out if you identified the proper nouns in the above sentences correctly from the answers given below.

1. I have had the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa when I was a child.
2. My father’s name is Joseph.
3. The Eiffel Tower, at night, is a treat to the eyes and the heart.
4. I did not really think the movie ‘The Adam Project’ would interest me.
5. Newton’s Third Law of Motion is one of the most popular concepts in the history of physics.

Like proper nouns, another grammatical component that will be frequently used in your everyday communication is relative pronouns. A relative pronoun, as the name suggests, is employed in a sentence to relate the noun or pronoun that acts as the subject or object in a sentence to a description of the same given in the other part of the sentence. For instance, I saw a man who was exceptionally huge on the street today. In this sentence, ‘who’ is the relative pronoun that relates the man to the description given in the latter part of the sentence.

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate relative pronouns in the following sentences.

1. The boy, ______ is wearing the grey coat, is my brother.
2. The place, _______ we had dinner last month, has shut down.
3. Do you know the girl _______ won the first place in the essay writing competition?
4. This is the Chinese restaurant ________ I was talking about yesterday.
5. I finally bought the dress _______ I had been wanting for a long time.

Check your answers to know how far you have understood the usage of relative pronouns.

1. The boy, who is wearing the grey coat, is my brother.
2. The place, where we had dinner last month, has shut down.
3. Do you know the girl who won the first place in the essay writing competition?
4. This is the Chinese restaurant which I was talking about yesterday.
5. I finally bought the dress that I had been wanting for a long time.