Relative adverbs are words that refer to a place, a time or a reason for something. One easy way to remember what the relative adverbs are is the Three Ws: Where, When and Why.
It can be hard for students to use the correct adverb in sentences that relate to places, time or reasons.
The important thing is for students to focus on what is being talked about in identifying whether to use where, when or why.
Let’s use this in an example.
I like to eat at restaurants __________ I can order a pizza.
The adverb in this sentence refers to the word: “restaurants”.
Restaurants are places.
Where refers to a place.
Therefore, the correct adverb for this sentence is where.
I like to eat at restaurants where I can order pizza.
Practice relative adverbs
In our grade 4 grammar section we have two sets of worksheets to practice relative adverbs.
Where, when and why worksheets
In these worksheets, students are given sentences where they have to fill in the correct adverb: when, where or why.
Relative adverbs worksheets
Students are asked to complete a text with the relative adverbs: when, where, why, how, whatever, whenever and wherever.
