How can you tell they’ve got it: Relative Clauses?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Combine a main clause with a relative clause using 'who' or 'which' to add information about a noun, e.g. 'The dog, which had a red collar, barked loudly'; Choose the correct relative pronoun (who for people, which for things, where for places, when for times) and identify the noun it refers back to; Recognise that a relative clause beginning with 'that' can often replace 'who' or 'which' in defining clauses, e.g. 'The book that I read' vs 'The book which I read'. Or just try it together: When your child writes to add detail about a noun — like describing a friend "who loves football" or a place "where we always go on holiday" — do they build that into the same sentence using a relative clause?

English Grammar & Punctuation Ages 9–10

Relative Clauses

Your child can add detail about a naming word using who, which or that. They write the dog, which had a red collar, barked loudly.

In curriculum terms

Form and use relative clauses beginning with relative pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, that) and relative adverbs (where, when, why) to add detail, qualify nouns, and create complex sentences

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Combine a main clause with a relative clause using 'who' or 'which' to add information about a noun, e.g. 'The dog, which had a red collar, barked loudly'
Choose the correct relative pronoun (who for people, which for things, where for places, when for times) and identify the noun it refers back to
Recognise that a relative clause beginning with 'that' can often replace 'who' or 'which' in defining clauses, e.g. 'The book that I read' vs 'The book which I read'

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Try this together

When your child writes to add detail about a noun — like describing a friend "who loves football" or a place "where we always go on holiday" — do they build that into the same sentence using a relative clause?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Subordinate clausesages 6–9Relative clauses extend subordination; learners must understand how subordinate clauses work before embedding relative clauses

Pronouns for clarityages 7–9Relative pronouns (who, which, that) overlap with pronoun knowledge; pronoun cohesion supports understanding pronoun reference in relative clauses

Relative Clausesthis skill · ages 9–10

Unlocks

Phrases & Clausesages 11–13Phrase/clause analysis extends KS2 relative clauses with relative pronouns/adverbs

Types of Sentencesages 11–14Constructing complex sentences uses subordinate/relative clauses from KS2

Varying Sentence Structureages 10–11Sentence crafting uses relative clauses

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E6LA05medium confidenceYear 6 · Language

understand how embedded clauses can expand the variety of complex sentences to elaborate, extend and explain ideas

AC9E4LA06low confidenceYear 4 · Language

understand that complex sentences contain one independent clause and at least one dependent clause typically joined by a subordinating conjunction to create relationships, such as time and causality

AC9E5LA05low confidenceYear 5 · Language

understand that the structure of a complex sentence includes a main clause and at least one dependent clause, and understand how writers can use this structure for effect

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E6LA05low confidenceEnglish · Level 6 · Language strand

VC2E4LA06low confidenceEnglish · Level 4 · Language strand

VC2E5LA05low confidenceEnglish · Level 5 · Language strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Adjective Order in Sentencesages 9–10 Brackets and dashes for parenthesisages 9–10 Cohesion within paragraphsages 9–11 Commas Before Joining Wordsages 9–11

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