Relative pronouns 1.

What is a relative pronoun?

The rmost common relative pronouns are that, which, who, whom, whose. Sometimes we can also consider where, when, why, and what to be relative pronouns too.

A relative pronoun is a word that refers to a thing, person, place, concept, idea or time in the sentence and is used as a subject or object of a sentence and links two ideas together into one sentence:

What was the model of the car? You bought it recently.
= What was the model of the car that you bought recently.?

We saw an old man. He was sleeping under the bridge.
= We saw an old man, who was sleeping under the bridge.

In the first sentence, that is the object of the sentence and pronoun for the word car. The word car here is called the antecedent. In the second sentence, who is the subject of the sentence and pronoun of the antecedent an old man.

Which relative pronoun to use.

Different relative pronouns are used depending on the words they refer to. Which refers to things or abstract concepts; who refers to people; that, to things or people; where, to places; when, to time and why is used after the expression the reason.

This is the book relative pronoun 1 that I told you about (that refers to book).

A pencil is a thing relative pronoun 2 which we use to write with (which refers to thing).

Mary was the girl relative pronoun 3 who I met last night (who refers to girl).

Here is the town relative pronoun 4 where I was born (where refers to town).

These are the difficultiesthat I had (that refers to difficulties).

Can you suggest a timewhen we can meet? (when refers to time)

Is there any reason relative ronoun 4 why he didn't come back? (why refers to reason)

Whose as a relative.

Whose is a possessive relative word which can refer to people or things:

This is my friend John, whose brother you met yesterday.

It was an event whose importance I did not understand at the time.

In the first sentence, whose brother means the brother of John and in the second sentence, whose refers to the importance of the event.

Although whose is grammatically correct with objects, many native speakers prefer to use "of which":

It was an event the importance of which I did not understand at the time.

The use of whom

Whom can be used when the relative pronoun refers to the object of the sentence. It can sound quite formal:

That is the girl whom I saw yesterday evening.

In modern-day English, the use of whom in a sentence like the above is often ignored by most native speakers and who is preferred:

That is the girl who I saw yesterday evening.

However, it is considered gramatically incorrect to use object who if preceded by a preposition and whom should be used:

He is the old man to whom I gave some money.

So many native users of English will prefer placing the preposition at the end of the sentence in an informal style to avoid the use of the formal-sounding whom:

He is the old man who I gave some money to.

Where, when and why as relative pronouns

Where and when join two phrases like these:

The lovely resaurant just outside town. We go there on special occasions.
The hotel. We stayed there on our honeymoon.

The word where can join these phrases like this:

The lovely restaurant just outside town where we go on special occasions.
The hotel where we stayed on our honeymoon.

However, there are other ways of expressing the same idea using which or that:

The lovely restaurant just outside town that/which we go to on special occasions.
The hotel that/which we stayed in on our honeymoon.

Notice the use of the prepositions in the that/which structure. The above is the more usual way in informal writing or speech, but in more formal English, we would say:

...to which we go...
...in which we stayed...

It's important to notice that when the preposition precedes the relative, we cannot use 'that'. This is true for all relative pronouns.

..to that we go...
...in that we stayed...

Similarly, we don't usually need to use the preposition with where - it is often redundant. However, in informal usage it is often included:

The restaurant where we went (to)
The hotel where we stayed (in)

Let's consider phrases like this one:

There are days when I really feel fed up.
The year when I lived in France was wonderful.

We can see that the relative pronoun when refers to 'days' and 'the year' respectively. When can also be expressed using which.

There are days on which I really feel fed up.
The year in which I lived in France was wonderful.

As the above examples using where and when are used in defining relative clauses, we can omit them (as often happens in less formal English) and maintain the same meaning. However, as the pronouns where and when often include the meaning of the preposition, we may need to add the preposition to a sentence when the pronouns are omitted:

The restaurant we went to.
The hotel where stayed in.

But notice the absence of the preposition in these examples where when is omitted:

There are days I really feel fed up.
The year I lived in France was wonderful.

Why can also function as a relative pronoun with the meaning of 'the reason'. Note the alternative structure can be 'the reason' or 'the reason why':

I don't know why the bank is closed today.
Can you tell me why Mary hasn't come to work?

I don't know the reason (why) the bank is closed today.
Can you tell me the reason (why) Mary hasn't come to work?

What as a relative.

Let us compare these two sentences:

1, This is the fruit that I bought at the supermarket.

This is what I bought at the supermarket.

and also these two:

2, The language that I'd like to study is Chinese.

What I'd like to study is Chinese.

We can see that the word what as a relative does not "repeat" the meaning of a word; instead it includes both the relative pronoun and its antecedent.

In 1, what = the fruit that and in 2, what = the language that. In fact we cannot say:

~~This is the fruit what I bought~~.

or,

~~The language what I'd like to speak is Chinese~~.

See relative pronouns and clauses, part 2...

Exercises on relative pronouns...