ESL Lesson / Relative Pronoun

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General

1. Relative pronouns do two jobs at once:
   a) acting as subject or object of a verb
   b) joining two clauses together
2. The most common are: who, whom, which and that — who and whom for people and which for things.
3. Whom is not used much in conversation and refers to an object of a verb or a preposition.
4. That can often replace whom, who and which.
5. After nouns referring to times and places, when and where can be used to mean at which or in which and why can be used to mean for which.
6. Whose is a possessive relative word, referring to people and things.

Particular

1. Defining and non-defining relative clauses
   Compare:
   «George, who lives next door, always watches television.»
   «The couple who live next door always watch television.»
2. That
   a) For people and things and in conversation.
   b) After the following: all, everything, something, anything, nothing, none, little, few, much.
   c) After superlatives.
3. In defining relative clauses the relative pronoun is often left out if it is the object of the verb.
4. Prepositions can come before the relative pronoun or at the end of the clause but you cannot use that or who after a preposition.
5. In a non-defining relative clause that cannot be used and object relative pronouns cannot be left out.
6. Sentence Relative
   Compare:
   «He showed me a photo that upset me.»
   «He tore up the photo, which upset me.»
7. Relative and infinitive
   «He was unhappy unless he had someone with whom to argue.»
8. Whose can refer to people or things and can be the subject of a clause, the object of a verb or the object of a preposition.
9. Instead of whose, of which can be used.
10. What
    Compare:
    «I gave her the money that she needed.»
    «I gave her what she wanted.»