In the sentence 'They demolished the house WHERE I USED TO LIVE', what is 'WHERE' grammatically?

In the sentence 'They demolished the house WHERE I USED TO LIVE', what is 'WHERE' grammatically?

• A. Relative adverb introducing a place clause
• B. Relative pronoun introducing a defining clause
• C. Preposition in a prepositional phrase
• D. Conjunction linking clauses

Answer: (A)

The word where is a relative adverb that introduces a clause of place and modifies the noun phrase the house. In this sentence, the clause where I used to live tells you which house is being talked about by specifying its location. Where stands for in which or at which, giving a place-based connection to the noun.

This is a defining (restrictive) relative clause, so there’s no comma before the clause—the information is essential to identify the house being discussed.

It isn’t a relative pronoun like which or that, which would introduce a clause without changing the word’s function. It isn’t a preposition on its own, because here where introduces the clause as a whole rather than acting as a preposition with a separate object. It isn’t a conjunction linking two independent clauses, since it’s introducing a clause that describes the noun, not joining two independent statements.