RELATIVE PRONOUNS

A_The pronouns (who, whose, whom, which, that, what, but, as) which join two sentences and refer to the noun which have gone before or relate thereto, are called relative pronouns.

B_The noun which is referred or related to by the relative pronoun is called its antecedent.

1_This is the boy who was late.

            Here ‘boy’ is the Antecedent of ‘who’.

C_ ‘Who’ is used for persons only; as :

1_The man, who is honest, succeeds in life.

2_Blessed is he who has found his work.

3_They never fail who die in a great cause.

4_The women, who were there, were frightened.

5_The boys, who were lazy, were punished.

6_The children, who work hard, always pass.

7_They, who live in glass houses, should not throw stones at others.

D_ ‘Which’ is used for animals and inanimate things; as :

1_The horse, which you bought last year, is white.

2_These are the dogs which bit the children.

3_The book, which has pictures in it, is mine.

4_The moment, which is lost, is lost for ever.

5_These are the pens which we lost yesterday.

6_The books, which help you most, are those which have pictures in them.

E_ ‘That’ is used for persons, animals and things; as :

1_Happy is the man that avoids bad company.

2_He, that is not with us, is against us.

3_This is the horse that carried me here.

4_I have lost the watch that you gave me.

5_This is the house that I built.

6_The man, that you were looking for, has come.

7_The crowd, that gathered there, cheered him loudly.

F_ ‘That’ is used to make sense of ‘when’, ‘on which’ and ‘at which’; as:

1_I shall see you on the day that I am free.

2_He took out the piece of string that he had put in his pocket.

G_ ‘That’ is used instead of ‘who’, ‘which’ and ‘at what’; as :

1_Which is the person that you admire?

2_What is the use of a statue that cannot keep the rain off?

3_Who are you that you speak so angrily?

H_ In the sentences having comparative degree, ‘that’ is used in place of the noun which have already gone; as :

1_The Punjab is a border state. So, the people of Punjab are braver than that of Bihar.

2_The climate of hilly areas is colder than that of the plains.

I_ ‘What’ denotes things. Its antecedent is always hidden. What=that which/the thing which; as :

1_This is what I want.             

2_I say what I mean.               

3_What is done is done. 

4_What one man has done another man can do.

5_I found what I was looking for.

J_ ‘As’ is used after ‘such’ or sometimes after ‘the same’; as :

1_This is not such a good book as I expected.

2_He is not such a clever student as you are.

3_These apples are not such as I bought yesterday.

4_His answer was not such as I expected from him.

5_My answer is the same as yours (is).

6_His opinion is the same as yours (is).

K_The word ‘but’ after a negative means ‘who not’ or ‘which not’; as :

1_There was no one present but (who did not) shed tears.

2_There is no man but loves (who does not love) his country.

3_There is no country but has (which has not) some great men in it.

L_The relative pronoun must be of the same number, gender and person as its antecedent; as :

1_The boy, who was lazy, was punished.

2_The boys, who worked hard, passed the examination.

3_I, who am your friend, will help you.

4_I am the person that has done this.

5_You, who are rich, should help the poor.

6_He, that is contended, is happy.

7_They, that are wise, are always humble.

8_He is one of the greatest leaders that have ever been born in India.

9_This is the only one of his poems that is worth reading.

M_The relative pronoun is used to join two separate sentences; as :-

SEPARATE SENTENCES:	a_Hari stood first in the examination. He is my brother. b_My brother will never trust you. You have cheated him. c_He is Mr. Basaati. His son won the first prize in English. d_This is the house. I built it. e_An old farmer had a goose. The goose laid a golden egg every day. f_Here is the book. You lent me the book. g_This is the horse. It won the race.
COMBINED SENTENCES:	a_Hari, who stood first in the examination, is my brother. b_My brother, whom you have cheated, will never trust you. c_He is Mr. Basaati whose son won the first prize in English. d_This is the house that I built. e_An old farmer had a goose which laid a golden egg every day. f_Here is the book that you lent me. g_This is the horse which won the race.