Relative Pronouns

 RELATIVE PRONOUNS

 A Relative Pronoun comes from Latin relativus means 'having reference or relation', or from relatus; past participle of referre means 'to refer'.

A Relative Pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause, functions grammatically within the relative clause, and is co-referential to the word modified by the relative clause. Example

The man who comes next.

Relative Pronouns are conjunctions that connect two statements. They can also be called conjunctive pronouns e.g., which, who, that, whom, whose, etc. Moreover, the Relative Pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to nouns or other pronouns. In doing so, they connect a dependent clause to an antecedent (i.e., a noun that precedes the pronoun.) Therefore, Relative Pronoun acts as the subject or object of the dependent clause. The Relative Pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to nouns or other pronouns. In doing so, they connect a dependent clause to an antecedent (i.e., a noun that precedes the pronoun.) Therefore, Relative Pronoun acts as the subject or object of the dependent clause.

Example

• The worker who works hardest usually does the best.

The word who connects or relates the subject, worker, to the verb within the dependent clause works.

Consider the following sentence where the Relative Pronoun is a subject:

• The man who won the championship studied in USA.

In this sentence, who relates back to (or is relative to) the noun man. Who also acts as the subject of the dependent clause and the verb won. The dependent clause is-who won the championship and the independent clause is-The man studied in USA.

In this sentence, the relative pronoun is an object in the dependent clause.

• The book that I borrowed from you is very interesting.

 In this sentence, that relates back to (or is relative to) the noun book. That is also the object of the verb borrowed, The dependent clause is-that I borrowed from you and the independent clause is-The book is very interesting.