Adjective Clauses with Prepositions

 When you change a sentence that has a separable phrasal verb and object (verb + preposition + object) into an adjective clause, you can keep the verb and preposition together, or you can put the preposition with the relative pronoun that starts the adjective clause.

 

For people:  The teacher gave me good advice.  I spoke to her yesterday.

The teacher whom I spoke to yesterday gave me good advice.

The teacher who I spoke to yesterday gave me good advice.

The teacher that I spoke to yesterday gave me good advice.

The teacher ø I spoke to yesterday gave me good advice.

OR

The teacher to whom I spoke yesterday gave me good advice.

 

Notice that if you put the preposition before the relative pronoun and you are referring to a person, you can only use “whom”, not to who or to that or to nothing.

 

 

For things:    The bag was empty.  She looked in it.

The bag which she looked in was empty.

The bag that she looked in was empty.

The bag ø she looked in was empty.