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Using where, when and why in relative clauses.
Relative adverbs introduce relative clauses referring to place, time, or reason.
The most common relative adverbs are where, when, and why.
Where introduces a relative clause referring to a place or location.
For example, This is the house where I grew up.
When introduces a relative clause referring to a time, day, year, period, or occasion.
For example, I remember the day when we first met.
Why can introduce a relative clause referring to a reason, especially after the noun reason.
For example, I do not know the reason why she left.
Where can often replace a preposition + which construction when referring to a place.
For example, The house where I live and The house in which I live have the same basic meaning.
When can sometimes replace a preposition + which construction referring to time.
For example, The year when we met and The year in which we met are both possible.
Why can sometimes correspond to for which when referring to a reason.
For example, The reason why he left and The reason for which he left are grammatically possible, although the second is much more formal.
Where can sometimes be omitted when the relationship is expressed by another structure, especially in informal English.
For example, The place where I live and The place I live are both found, although the second requires the intended relationship to be clear from context.
When can often be omitted after a time expression when the remaining clause is grammatically complete.
For example, The day when we met and The day we met are both standard.
Why can often be omitted after reason when the remaining clause is grammatically complete.
For example, The reason why she left and The reason she left are both standard.
Where can follow nouns referring to specific places, locations, buildings, areas, or environments.
For example, the city where I was born, the office where she works, and the hotel where we stayed.
When can follow nouns referring to periods or points in time.
For example, the year when they moved, the moment when the lights went out, and the time when we arrived.
Why is especially common after reason, and the combination reason why is standard.
For example, Tell me the reason why you left early.
The noun reason can be followed by that in some constructions, especially when that introduces a clause functioning as the complement.
For example, The reason that he left was never explained.
Where can introduce non-defining relative clauses when extra information is added about an already identified place.
For example, Oxford, where she studied, is a historic city.
When can introduce a non-defining relative clause when extra information is added about an identified time or period.
For example, 2020, when many businesses moved online, changed working habits.
Where refers to the location associated with the antecedent, while which refers to the antecedent itself as a noun.
Compare The house where I grew up with The house which I bought last year.
When refers to the time associated with the antecedent, while which refers directly to the noun.
Compare The day when we met with The day which I will never forget.
In formal English, place relationships can be expressed with preposition + which instead of where.
For example, The institution in which she works is equivalent in meaning to The institution where she works.
The choice of preposition in a formal time-relative construction depends on the time expression and the intended relationship.
For example, the day on which we met and the year in which she graduated are formal alternatives to when.
For which can replace why in formal relative constructions referring to reasons.
For example, The reason for which the decision was made is unclear.
A relative adverb normally replaces a prepositional relationship within the relative clause rather than functioning simply as a conjunction.
For example, where in The place where I live corresponds to the location relationship expressed by in which.
Where, when, and why can encode relationships that would otherwise be expressed using a preposition.
For example, where corresponds to in or at which in appropriate contexts, when to at or in which, and why to for which.
Relative adverbs are common in both formal and informal English, while preposition + which alternatives are often more formal.
For example, The company where I work is natural in conversation, while The company for which I work is more formal.
Use where, when, and why according to the type of relationship expressed by the antecedent and the relative clause.
Common mistakes include confusing where with which, using why when the antecedent is not a reason, retaining an unnecessary preposition after where, and confusing relative adverbs with ordinary conjunctions.