Punctuation Rules – English Grammar Exercises for B2
HR Email regarding Year-End Bonus Eligibility. The Human Resources department is sending a company-wide notice outlining the strict conditions for receiving the year-end bonus.
Choose the option with the correct punctuation and grammar. Warning: In this context, adding a single unnecessary comma could legally entitle the entire company to a bonus, costing millions of dollars!
1 The year-end bonus will be awarded exclusively to employees______ the advanced compliance training program.
(a) , who completed
(b) which completed
(c) who completed
(d) , that completed
2 We must ensure that the managers______ receive their payout on time before the holidays.
(a) who submitted the appraisal forms
(b) , who submitted the appraisal forms,
(c) , that submitted the appraisal forms,
(d) who submitted the appraisal forms,
3 The finance department will only process bonus payments for those contractors______ include the specific reward clause.
(a) , whose contracts
(b) , which contracts
(c) who their contracts
(d) whose contracts
4 Please be aware that staff members______ are strictly not eligible for the Q4 financial reward.
(a) , that have pending disciplinary actions
(b) that have pending disciplinary actions
(c) , who have pending disciplinary actions,
(d) whom have pending disciplinary actions
5 The $5,000 performance bonus applies solely to the sales representatives______ their annual quotas by 15% or more.
(a) , who exceeded
(b) , exceeding
(c) who exceeded
(d) which exceeded
6 Any team leader______ will forfeit the departmental bonus for their entire unit.
(a) , who fails to submit the budget report,
(b) who fails to submit the budget report
(c) , that fails to submit the budget report,
(d) whom fails to submit the budget report
7 The official company policy explicitly states that workers______ cannot claim the year-end allowance.
(a) , who joined after November 1st,
(b) , that joined after November 1st,
(c) joining after November 1st,
(d) who joined after November 1st
8 We will distribute the profit-sharing funds strictly to the departments______ a perfect safety and compliance score.
(a) , that achieved
(b) , which achieved
(c) that achieved
(d) who achieved
9 HR must clearly identify the exact personnel______ this specific high-tier bonus applies.
(a) to whom
(b) , to whom
(c) to who
(d) , to that
10 The executive board will heavily reward the project groups______ the new software ahead of the deadline.
(a) , which successfully launched
(b) who successfully launched
(c) which successfully launched
(d) , that successfully launched
11 There is a strict exclusion rule regarding the remote workers______ enough billable hours this quarter.
(a) , who have not logged
(b) which have not logged
(c) , that have not logged
(d) who have not logged
12 The legal team emphasized that the bonus clause only protects the senior executives______ the updated non-compete agreement.
(a) , who signed
(b) who signed
(c) whom signed
(d) , that signed
13 We absolutely cannot approve the holiday bonus for anyone______ performance rating is categorized as “below average.”
(a) whose
(b) , whose
(c) who’s
(d) , who’s
14 The multiplier effect will only be applied to the base salaries of those individuals______ here for over five consecutive years.
(a) , who have worked
(b) , that have worked
(c) which have worked
(d) who have worked
15 Management must immediately notify the employees______ from the bonus pool due to policy violations.
(a) , whom the auditing committee has disqualified
(b) whom the auditing committee has disqualified
(c) who the auditing committee has disqualified them
(d) , that the auditing committee has disqualified
16 The special stock options are reserved solely for the software engineers______ the newly patented algorithm.
(a) , who developed
(b) , that developed
(c) that developed
(d) whom developed
17 To prevent a massive financial drain, we must strictly limit the payout to the regional branches______ a net profit this year.
(a) , which generated
(b) that generated
(c) , that generated
(d) who generated
18 Any employee______ will be immediately removed from the bonus distribution list.
(a) , who is found violating the code of conduct,
(b) , that is found violating the code of conduct,
(c) whom is found violating the code of conduct
(d) who is found violating the code of conduct
19 The payroll system is programmed to automatically filter out the temporary staff______ the minimum tenure requirement.
(a) , who do not meet
(b) which do not meet
(c) who do not meet
(d) , that do not meet
20 It is legally crucial that the contract language targets only the personnel______ are entirely flawless.
(a) , whose attendance records
(b) whose attendance records
(c) who their attendance records
(d) , who their attendance records
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (c) who completed
- Why it is correct (The Key): This is a Defining Relative Clause. It specifies which employees get the bonus. No commas are used.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: Adding a comma makes it a Non-defining clause, meaning all employees get the bonus, and incidentally, they all completed the training (a financial disaster). (d) Structural Error: “That” cannot be used with a comma. (b) Meaning Trap: “Which” is used for things, not people.
2 (a) who submitted the appraisal forms
- Why it is correct (The Key): Defines the exact subset of managers who are eligible. No commas.
- Distractor Analysis: (b) Common Mistake: Enclosing the clause in commas implies all managers get the payout. (c) Structural Error: “That” cannot follow a comma. (d) Structural Error: Using only one comma breaks the sentence structure entirely.
3 (d) whose contracts
- Why it is correct (The Key): A defining relative clause indicating possession without commas.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: A comma here legally grants the bonus to all contractors. (c) Structural Error: “who their” is incorrect grammar for possession; “whose” is required. (b) Structural Error: Cannot use a comma, and “which” doesn’t show possession.
4 (b) that have pending disciplinary actions
- Why it is correct (The Key): “That” can replace “who” in defining relative clauses without commas. It restricts the group of staff members.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) & (c) Common Mistakes: Adding commas alters the legal meaning of the sentence entirely. (d) Structural Error: “Whom” is an object pronoun, but a subject pronoun is needed here.
5 (c) who exceeded
- Why it is correct (The Key): Strictly defines the eligible sales reps.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: The comma would mean all sales reps exceeded their quotas and all get the $5,000 (b) Structural Error: Using a comma with a participle phrase here creates an awkward, non-restrictive meaning. (d) Meaning Trap: “Which” is for things, not sales reps.
6 (b) who fails to submit the budget report
- Why it is correct (The Key): Defines exactly which team leader loses the bonus.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: Commas make this a non-defining clause, illogically implying that any team leader in existence fails to submit reports. (c) Structural Error. (d) Structural Error: “Whom” cannot be the subject of “fails”.
7 (d) who joined after November 1st
- Why it is correct (The Key): Restricts the noun “workers” to a specific group.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: A comma changes the meaning to “All workers cannot claim the allowance, and by the way, all of them joined after Nov 1st.” (b) Structural Error. (c) Structural Error: Misplaced comma with a participle.
8 (c) that achieved
- Why it is correct (The Key): “That” (or “which” without a comma) is used for things/groups like “departments” in a defining relative clause.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) & (b) Common Mistakes: Commas would mean every single department in the company gets the profit-sharing funds. (d) Meaning Trap: “Who” is generally reserved for people, not departments.
9 (a) to whom
- Why it is correct (The Key): Preposition + relative pronoun in a defining relative clause. No commas.
- Distractor Analysis: (b) Common Mistake: A comma changes the meaning dangerously. (c) Structural Error: Must use “whom” after a preposition, not “who”. (d) Structural Error: “That” cannot follow a preposition.
10 (c) which successfully launched
- Why it is correct (The Key): Defines which project groups get the reward. No commas.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: The comma grants the reward to all project groups. (b) Meaning Trap: “Who” is for people, “which” or “that” is for groups/things. (d) Structural Error.
11 (d) who have not logged
- Why it is correct (The Key): A defining clause for “remote workers”.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: This comma would imply all remote workers haven’t logged enough hours and are excluded. (c) Structural Error. (b) Meaning Trap.
12 (b) who signed
- Why it is correct (The Key): Restricts the protection to only the signing executives.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake. (c) Structural Error: “Whom” is an object pronoun; we need a subject here. (d) Structural Error.
13 (a) whose
- Why it is correct (The Key): Shows possession in a defining clause.
- Distractor Analysis: (b) Common Mistake: The comma makes it non-defining. (c) & (d) Structural Errors: “Who’s” means “who is” or “who has”, which makes no grammatical sense here (“who is performance rating…”).
14 (d) who have worked
- Why it is correct (The Key): Defines the exact “individuals”.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake. (b) Structural Error. (c) Meaning Trap: “Which” is for things.
15 (b) whom the auditing committee has disqualified
- Why it is correct (The Key): “Whom” acts as the object of “has disqualified” in a defining relative clause.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake. (c) Structural Error: Double object (“whom” and “them” in the same clause is redundant and incorrect). (d) Structural Error.
16 (c) that developed
- Why it is correct (The Key): “That” correctly defines the specific engineers without commas. (“Who developed” would also be correct, but is not an option).
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake. (b) Structural Error. (d) Structural Error: “Whom” cannot be a subject.
17 (b) that generated
- Why it is correct (The Key): Defines which branches get the money.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: This comma tells finance to pay all regional branches because they all allegedly made a profit. (c) Structural Error. (d) Meaning Trap: “Who” is not used for branches.
18 (d) who is found violating the code of conduct
- Why it is correct (The Key): Restricts the noun “employee”.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: The commas logically imply that every single employee is violating the code of conduct. (b) Structural Error. (c) Structural Error: “Whom” cannot be the subject of “is found”.
19 (c) who do not meet
- Why it is correct (The Key): Defines the subset of temporary staff to be filtered out.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: A comma here implies all temporary staff fail the requirement and will all be filtered out. (b) Meaning Trap: “Which” is for things. (d) Structural Error.
20 (b) whose attendance records
- Why it is correct (The Key): Possessive relative pronoun in a defining clause.
- Distractor Analysis: (a) Common Mistake: The comma implies all personnel have flawless records and all get the bonus. (c) & (d) Structural Errors: “Who their” is broken English.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- The High Stakes of Commas: In legal and corporate writing, a single comma can change a company’s financial obligation.
- Defining (No Commas): The bonus goes to the employees who hit their targets. (Only the high-performers get paid. The company is safe).
- Non-Defining (With Commas): The bonus goes to the employees, who hit their targets. (Every employee gets paid. The clause “, who hit their targets,” is just treated as extra background information).
- “That” vs. “Which/Who”: The relative pronoun “that” is only used in Defining Relative Clauses (no commas). You can never write: , that…
- Who vs. Whom vs. Whose:
- Who: Subject (does the action). …employees who submitted the report.
- Whom: Object (receives the action or follows a preposition). …employees to whom the bonus applies.
- Whose: Possession. …employees whose records are clean.