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    Relative Pronouns

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    Muhammad Rizam Hj Bakri
    Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses and relate to the word they modify. The five relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and that. Who and whom are used for people as subjects and objects. Whose is used to indicate possession. Which is used for things. That can be used for both people and things as subjects and objects. Relative clauses can be defining, which provide essential information, or non-defining, which provide non-essential information.

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    Relative Pronouns

    Uploaded by

    Muhammad Rizam Hj Bakri
    505 views3 pages
    Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses and relate to the word they modify. The five relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and that. Who and whom are used for people as subjects and objects. Whose is used to indicate possession. Which is used for things. That can be used for both people and things as subjects and objects. Relative clauses can be defining, which provide essential information, or non-defining, which provide non-essential information.

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    Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses and relate to the word they modify. The five relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and that. Who and whom are used for people as subjects and objects. Whose is used to indicate possession. Which is used for things. That can be used for both people and things as subjects and objects. Relative clauses can be defining, which provide essential information, or non-defining, which provide non-essential information.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    505 views3 pages

    Relative Pronouns

    Uploaded by

    Muhammad Rizam Hj Bakri
    Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses and relate to the word they modify. The five relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and that. Who and whom are used for people as subjects and objects. Whose is used to indicate possession. Which is used for things. That can be used for both people and things as subjects and objects. Relative clauses can be defining, which provide essential information, or non-defining, which provide non-essential information.

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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    RELATIVE PRONOUNS

    A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It is called a


    "relative" pronoun because it "relates" to the word that it modifies. Here is an
    example:

     The person who phoned me last night is my teacher.

    In the above example, "who":

     relates to "person", which it modifies


     introduces the relative clause "who phoned me last night"

    There are five relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that*

    Who (subject) and whom (object) are generally only for people. Whose is for
    possession. Which is for things. That can be used for people** and things and
    as subject and object in defining relative clauses (clauses that are essential to
    the sentence and do not simply add extra information).

    Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference


    between male and female.

    Look at these examples showing defining and non-defining relative clauses:

      example sentences notes


    S=subject, O=object, P=possessive
    defining S - The person who phoned me last That is preferable
    night is my teacher.
    - The person that phoned me last
    night is my teacher.
    - The car which hit me was yellow. That is preferable
    - The cars that hit me were yellow.
    O - The person whom I phoned last Whom is correct but very
    night is my teacher. formal. The relative
    - The people who I phoned last pronoun is optional.
    night are my teachers.
    - The person that I phoned last
    night is my teacher.
    - The person I phoned last night is
    my teacher.
    - The car which I drive is old. That is preferable to
    - The car that I drive is old. which. The relative
    - The car I drive is old. pronoun is optional.
    P - The student whose phone just  
    rang should stand up.
    - Students whose parents are
    wealthy pay extra.
    - The police are looking for the car Of which is usual for
    whose driver was masked. things, but whose is
    - The police are looking for the car sometimes possible
    of which the driver was masked.
    non- S - Mrs Pratt, who is very kind, is my  
    defining teacher.
    - The car, which was a taxi,  
    exploded.
    - The cars, which were taxis,
    exploded.
    O - Mrs Pratt, whom I like very much, Whom is correct but very
    is my teacher. formal. Who is normal.
    - Mr and Mrs Pratt, who I like very
    much, are my teachers.
    - The car, which I was driving at the  
    time, suddenly caught fire.
    P - My brother, whose phone you just  
    heard, is a doctor.
    - The car, whose driver jumped out Of which is usual for
    just before the accident, was things, but whose is
    completely destroyed. sometimes possible
    - The car, the driver of which
    jumped out just before the accident,
    was completely destroyed.

    *Not all grammar sources count "that" as a relative pronoun.


    **Some people claim that we cannot use "that" for people but must use
    "who/whom"; there is no good reason for such a claim.

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