Your English Class

Simple Relative Pronouns

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ANTECEDENT

The three simple relative pronouns, who, which, and that frequently have an antecedent expressed in the sentence. This antecedent may be a noun or a pronoun.

He who works hard will succeed.

The bear that mauled the campers was killed by park rangers.

The secretary will follow through with anything that you give her.

Unlike personal pronouns, a relative pronoun is most often in the same sentence with its antecedent, which usually comes immediately before the pronoun.

Note. Which can have an entire statement as an antecedent if the connection is clear: as, “The enemy position was uncertain, which made troop deployment all the more dangerous.” This sort of construction, though often discouraged, is often used by good writers. Often, in order to avoid this form of reference, a noun that sums up the whole statement is substituted as the antecedent: “The enemy position was uncertain, a situation that made troop deployment all the more dangerous.”

PERSON, NUMBER, AND GENDER

A relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person, number, and gender. The relative pronoun itself doesn’t change form for these different properties. It is necessary, however, to know the person and number of the relative in order to use the correct form of the verb with it. The form of the verb will be the same as used with the antecedent.

I who am the oldest will retire first.

They who are present will have to get the job done.

In the first sentence the antecedent is I, which is in the first person, singular number; the relative therefore is also in the first person, singular, and requires the verb am. In the second sentence, the antecedent they is in the third person, plural number, so the relative requires the verb are.

Gender has no effect on the use of the pronoun or the form of the verb.

CASE AND USE

The simple relative pronouns have the following case forms, which are the same for both singular and plural forms.

Who is the only simple relative pronoun that changes form for the different cases.

Which has the same form for both the nominative and the objective cases. It has no regular form for the possessive case; the phrase of which is used instead. Sometimes whose, the possessive case of who, is employed as the corresponding form of which. We may therefore say either “South America has hundreds of indigenous languages, the majority of which have not been studied,” or “The law, whose constitutionality was upheld, is now in effect.”

That does not change form and has no possessive form.

The case of the relative pronoun does not depend upon the case of the antecedent; it is determined by the use of the pronoun in the clause which it introduces.

I met him who was just hired.

I met him whom you mentioned.

I met him of whom they spoke.

I met him whose business folded.

In the above sentences, the personal pronoun him is in the objective case because it is the object of the verb met. In the first sentence, the relative pronoun who is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the verb was in its own clause. In the second and third sentences, whom is in the objective case because it is used as the object of the verb mentioned and the object of the preposition of, respectively. In the fourth sentence, whose is in the possessive case because it indicates possession of business, a word in its own clause.

The Nominative Case is used with the subject of a verb.

This is the student who failed my class.

I found my wallet, which I’d lost.

He got on the plane that was doomed to crash.

The Objective Case is used:

(1) With the direct object of a verb.

He is the guy whom they accused of stealing the money.

She mailed the Christmas cards, which she’d written the previous day.

People are judged by the words that they use.

(2) With the object of a preposition.

He had a meeting with the CIA agent from whom he’d bought the documents.

This is the book to which they referred.

She hit everything that she aimed at.

The Possessive Case is used to denote possession.

The pirates surrounded the ship whose captain had fallen overboard.

Note. Compound Relative Pronouns may also be used as predicate nouns in the nominative case, “Whoever the chef was, he knew how to cook a great lasagna.”

Copyright © 2012 Thomas Fasano.
Your English Class™ trademark is the property of Thomas Fasano.

Relative Pronouns

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A relative pronoun acts as both a connective word and a reference word.

(1) As a connective it introduces a clause — a group of words having a subject and a verb — and connects that word to the antecedent of the pronoun.

(2) As a reference word, a relative pronoun refers to and takes the place of its antecedent, and thus makes the repetition of the antecedent unnecessary. The relative will then function as the subject of the verb in the clause it introduces or function as one of the other uses of a noun in the clause.

Thus, in “John found the wallet which he had lost” the relative pronoun which connects the clause which he had lost with the antecedent wallet and is used instead of wallet as the subject of the verb had lost. In the sentence, “This is the woman whom you mentioned,” the relative pronoun whom acts as both a connective and the object of the verb mentioned.

Note: Either that or which could be used in the above sentence, “John found the wallet which (that) he had lost.” However, that is most commonly used as a relative pronoun in identifying clauses.

Notice that a relative pronoun is always part of its own clause that has a subject and a verb and is separate from the main subject and verb of the sentence.

For example, the sentence, “She liked the wine that we drank last night” contains the main subject and verb, She liked, and in addition another subject and verb, we drank, following the relative pronoun that.

Classes of Relative Pronouns. Relative pronouns can be divided into two classes: Simple and Compound.

(1) The Simple Relative Pronouns are who, which, and that.

(2) The Compound Relative Pronouns are what and combinations made by adding -ever and -soever to who, which, and what: thus, whoever, whosoever whosever, whosesoever; whomever, whomsoever; whichever, whichsoever; whatever, whatsoever. A distinguishing characteristic of compound relative pronouns is that they do not have an expressed antecedent.

Note: What is usually classified among the simple relative pronouns. Despite its simple form, it is like a compound relative because it does not have an expressed antecedent. Since the function is more important than the form, it’s important to classify the word as a compound relative pronoun.

Copyright © 2012 Thomas Fasano.
Your English Class™ trademark is the property of Thomas Fasano.