3. Relative Pronouns

Relative Pronouns take the place of Nouns or Pronouns; they are used to join two sentences about the same person or thing. EXAMPLE: I know the man who lives next door. Who refers to the noun 'man' which is just before it. Who is called a Relative Pronoun. It is placed at the beginning of the clause 'who lives next door'. This clause tells us more about the man. It is an adjective clause. A Relative Pronoun is therefore used to begin an adjective clause, which modifies Ihe noun that precedes it. Examples of relative pronouns: who, which, that, whom and whose. 'Who', 'whom' and 'whose' are used for people; 'which' and 'that' for animals or things; 'whom' is only used as the object of a sentence; and 'whose' is used as a possessive. We use who to join two sentences. EXAMPLE: "The man is an artist. He drew that picture." "The man who drew that picture is an artist." We use whose to show possession or relationship. EXAMPLE: "That is my uncle whose son is my cousin." We use which or that in almost the same way as we use who but it refers to things, not human beings. There is one other difference in the way we use who and which. After who we put a verb. After which we can put a verb, a pronoun or a noun. EXAMPLE: That is the camera which costs fifty dollars. (verb comes after 'which') EXAMPLE: That is the camera which he bought. (pronoun comes after 'which') EXAMPLE: That is the camera which John likes. (noun comes after 'which') We use whom to make a statement about human beings. It is used in place of who (a) when it is the object of a verb or (b) when it comes after a preposition. EXAMPLE: (a) The man whom they caught was sent to prison. EXAMPLE: (b) The man to whom you should speak is my uncle.