TOEIC Link Part 5: Relative Pronouns and Clauses Without the Guesswork

Relative pronoun questions are some of the most answerable items in TOEIC Link Part 5, because they yield to a short, mechanical decision path. Yet they cost candidates points all the time — not because the grammar is hard, but because test-takers reach for the pronoun that "sounds right" instead of running the two checks that settle the answer with certainty.

This guide gives you that decision path. Once you internalize it, who / which / that / whose / where / when stop being a matter of feel and become a matter of two quick questions.

What a relative clause is doing

A relative clause is a clause that describes a noun, attached to it by a relative pronoun. In the sentence the manager who approved the budget, the clause who approved the budget tells you which manager. The relative pronoun who does two jobs at once: it links the clause to manager, and it acts as the subject of approved.

That dual role is the key to everything. To pick the right pronoun you only need to answer two questions:

1. What does the pronoun refer to — a person, a thing, or a possessive relationship?
2. What grammatical slot does the pronoun fill inside the clause — subject, object, or a place/time reference?

Answer those two and the pronoun is determined.

Question 1: person, thing, or possession?

This is the people-versus-things rule, and it covers most questions outright.

• who / whom → people. The client who called yesterday wants a quote.
• which → things and animals. The shipment which arrived today is incomplete.
• that → people or things (informal, restrictive clauses only). The report that you sent is excellent.
• whose → possession, for people or things. The vendor whose prices increased lost the contract.

The single most common trap is whose. Test writers set up a possessive relationship — the company …… revenue grew — and offer who, which, and that as decoys. None of them can show possession. If the blank is followed by a noun that belongs to the antecedent, the answer is whose, full stop.

The startup ( ) founder left last year has struggled since. → whose (the founder belongs to the startup)

Question 2: subject, object, or place/time?

Once you know the category, decide what slot the pronoun fills.

Subject slot — the pronoun is immediately followed by a verb. Use who / which / that.

The employees ( ) completed the training received certificates. → who (subject of completed)

Object slot — the pronoun is followed by a new subject + verb. Use whom / which / that, and note that in object position the pronoun can often be omitted entirely.

The proposal ( ) the board rejected was resubmitted. → which / that (object of rejected; could also be dropped)

Place / time slot — use where for a location and when for a time, but only when the pronoun is not the subject or object of the clause's verb.

The warehouse ( ) the goods are stored is being renovated. → where

This last point is where confident candidates slip. Where and when are adverbial — they replace in which / at which. If the clause already has a complete subject and object and only lacks a location reference, use where. If the clause is missing its subject or object, you need who / which / that instead, even when the antecedent is a place.

The factory ( ) produces the components is in Osaka.

Here the clause produces the components is missing its subject, so the answer is which / that, not where — even though factory is a location. Test this by asking: does the clause already have a subject? If yes and it only needs a place, use where; if no, the pronoun must fill the subject slot.

The restrictive-versus-nonrestrictive comma rule

TOEIC Link also tests the comma distinction, which interacts with pronoun choice.

• No commas (restrictive) — the clause is essential to identify the noun. That is allowed here. The document that needs a signature is on your desk.
• Commas (nonrestrictive) — the clause adds extra, non-essential information. That is forbidden; use who or which. The annual report, which runs to 80 pages, is now online.

So if you see a comma before the blank, you can eliminate that immediately. This single observation often removes one or two options before you do any other analysis.

Putting the path together

The full routine, in order:

1. Is there a comma before the blank? If yes, eliminate that.
2. Is the blank followed by a noun that the antecedent owns? If yes, the answer is whose.
3. Is the antecedent a person or a thing? Narrow to who vs. which accordingly.
4. Does the clause lack a subject or object, or only a place/time reference? Choose subject/object pronoun vs. where / when.

Run top to bottom and you rarely need step 4, because the earlier checks usually decide it.

A worked example

We hired a consultant ( ) recommendations transformed our onboarding process.

(A) who (B) which (C) whose (D) that

The blank is followed by recommendations, a noun belonging to the consultant — a possessive relationship. Steps 1 and 2 of the routine settle it at once: the answer is (C) whose. Options A, B, and D cannot express possession, so they are eliminated before you even consider the person-versus-thing question.

Why this connects to agreement

Relative clauses are also a favorite device for separating a subject from its verb, which is why they show up in subject-verb agreement traps too. If you have not drilled that interaction, read subject-verb agreement with intervening phrases alongside this guide — the bracketing skill there and the decision path here are the two halves of handling any long, modifier-heavy sentence.

How to drill it

Take ten Part 5 relative-pronoun questions and, before looking at the options, write down the two answers: person/thing/possession and subject/object/place. Only then check the choices. You will find that once those two labels are fixed, exactly one option survives. Practicing the labeling — not the answering — is what makes the skill fast. Build it into your weekly rotation with a sustainable daily study routine and relative-clause questions will become reliable, near-instant points.