Question

The old lady _______ I met in your house is my neighbour.
A) whom
B) that
C) which

Answer 1

Hint: This questions about relative pronouns. Relative pronouns are the words we use to join a dependent clause; called “Relative clause” to an independent clause. In other words, a relative pronoun is a word which describes the relationship of the subject with the context of the sentence. Always keep this in mind when answering these types of questions.

Complete answer:
The given sentence is asking us to describe the relationship of the subject, that is, “The Old Lady”, with the rest of the sentence. It is asking us to identify who that old lady is. Since it is a person, the relative pronoun can be identified.

Let us look into the given options:
Option (A) whom- is correct because we use whom in order to describe a person, especially a third person singular noun. As the “Old Lady” is a third person singular noun, using “Whom” is appropriate.
Option (B) that- is incorrect because we use “that” mostly in case of inanimate objects or animals. But the subject is a human female, therefore, this option cannot be used.
Option (C) which- is incorrect because the relative pronoun “Which” is used to join a non-defining clause with the rest of the sentence. But the pronoun clause in the given sentence is defining, hence, it cannot be used.

Therefore the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note: Some rules of relative pronouns are:
- The relative pronouns who, whom are only used to refer to people. They cannot be used to refer to animals or other objects.
- Note that whom and whose are the object and possessive forms of who.
-The relative pronoun whose can refer to people or things.
-The relative pronoun which can only refer to animals or things. It cannot be used to refer to people.