Relative Pronouns, A word used to relate two different clauses together

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English Grammar : Relative Pronouns

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

What Are Relative Pronouns?

"Relative Pronouns are used to join or relate two different clauses together by referring to the noun in the previous clause using the pronouns."

The most common relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and that. Sometimes when and where can be used as relative pronouns as well. Relative pronouns can also add more information about the subject.

Note: Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference between male and female.

There are five basic Relative Pronouns:

	(1) Who, (2) Whom, (3) Whose, (4) Which and (5) That.
	Sometimes 'When' and 'Where' can be used as relative pronouns as well.

(1) Use of 'Who, 'Whose' and 'Whom':

'Who', 'Whose' & 'Whom' are generally used for human beings but sometimes for pet animal too.

Examples:

• I know the person who can do this work. - Subject
• He is the man that (who) has won the marathon. - Subject
• Whom do you want to meet? - Object
• Whose book is this? - Possessive

(2) Use of 'Which':

'Which' is used for animal and for inanimate things.

Examples:

• This is the book, which I bought in New York. - Subject
• The time, which is lost, is lost forever. - Object

(3) Use of 'That':

'That' is used for both person and thing. It is used in place of who / whom / which but not for whose.

Examples:

• That is the man whom I met at the airport. - Subject
• That is the batsman who can play well against fast bowlers. - Object

Uses of Relative Pronouns.

Relative pronouns are placed directly after the noun or pronoun they modify:

• The driver who ran the stop sign was careless.
• The children, whom we love dearly, need better educations.
• Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. (Erma Bombeck)
• I have a friend whose cat is annoying.
• The book, which is now out of print, has all the information you need.
• This is the book that everyone is talking about.

Occasionally, the relative adverbs "when" and "where" are also used as relative pronouns:

• Grandma remembers a time when radio shows were popular.
• I want to visit the island where my grandma was born.

Different Cases of Relative Pronouns

Subjective Case : When the relative pronoun refers to a subject, use the subjective case.

• A boy who is in my class is very tall. - (The subject is "boy")
• The clock that is on the wall makes a loud tick. - (The subject is "clock")
• His old toy, which is in poor shape, is his favorite. - (The subject is "toy")

Objective Case : When the relative pronoun refers to an object, use the objective case.

• Peter wants to be a teacher whom many people admire. - (The object is “teacher”)
• I picked up the ball that was in our yard. - (The object is “ball”)
• My mom cooked our favorite Punjabi dish, which we greatly enjoyed. - (The object is “dish”)

Possessive Case : When the relative pronoun refers to the possession of an object, use the possessive case.

• The painting on the wall, whose artist is unknown, imitates Impressionism. - (Possession of the "painting")
• Charlie Chaplin, whose sense of humour is sensational, is my favorite comedian. - (Possession of the "sense humour")
• Mr. Patel, whose wine store is spacious, is in Downtown. - (Possession of the "wine store")