Year 5 · SPaG · Relative clauses
Year 5 leaving out the relative pronoun worksheet and PowerPoint
To know when a relative pronoun can be left out of a relative clause, and to leave it out correctly.
Leaving the pronoun out
Sometimes the relative pronoun can be left out. This only works when the clause has its own subject. If the pronoun is the subject of the clause, it must stay.
| can be left out | The book that I borrowed is exciting. → The book I borrowed is exciting. |
|---|---|
| must stay | The girl who won the race is my sister. (‘Who’ is the subject: we cannot say ‘The girl won the race is my sister’.) |
| test | Take the pronoun out. Does the clause still have a subject of its own? |
Examples
- The kite that we made at school is red. → The kite we made at school is red.
- The dog that barked all night is asleep. (the pronoun stays)
Key words
- subject
- the person or thing that does the action
- relative pronoun
- who, which, whose, where, when or that
- omit
- to leave out
- clause
- a group of words with a subject and a verb
What is on the worksheet
Every sheet for this lesson has a short teaching box and 12 questions that get gradually harder: 8 fluency questions, then 4 reasoning questions that ask pupils to explain or choose. A writing challenge follows. The questions use the same styles as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, fill the gap, add punctuation, rewrite, explain). They are written for this website, not copied from past papers.
All the answers are on the last page of the same editable Word file. New questions are made every time, so you can print a different sheet for every group or for homework. The same sheet code always gives the same sheet.
Writing challenge: Write six sentences with a relative clause that starts with ‘that’. Rewrite each one without ‘that’ if you can. Underline the ones where ‘that’ has to stay.
Pupil target: I can leave out a relative pronoun when it is correct to do so.
The PowerPoint
A 20-slide lesson deck for the same lesson: a starter that revisits earlier learning, key words, an I do and a You do question on each slide with a countdown timer, answers that appear one click at a time, and a challenge. Download the leaving out the relative pronoun PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 9 of 43 in the Year 5 SPaG scheme, in the block “Relative clauses”.
Other lessons in this block
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