Topic 6
Relative Pronouns and Clauses
We use Relative Pronouns like ’who / whose / whom /
which ’to precede a Relative or an Adjectival clause.
Nominative Case
Possessive Case Objective
Case
Person who whose whom
Animal
Thing
which the noun
of which which
Person/
Animal/
that --- that
Thing
{ [who]
v
[Person] { [whose
noun] v ---------------------} v
{ (whom)
[S] v
When we use the Relative Pronouns ‘who / whose /
whom’, the noun that precedes must be
the person.
A. Nominative
Case who
1. [Alina] ^speaks Japanese very well. [She]
grew up in Japan.
[Alina]{ [who] grew up in Japan}
speaks Japanese very well.
To join the two sentences, first we have to identify
the person in the subject matter. Then
we decide which sentence should be put into another sentence. We must also know that we always put the
whole clause preceded by [who] to be placed right after the person we want to
modify as the example above.
In the above example, the person in the subject matter
is [Alina].
In the second sentence ‘[She] grew up in Japan.
’ the subject [She] can be replaced by
the Relative Pronoun ‘who’ because [She] is in the Nominative Case or
Subjective Case/ P1 and followed by a verb.
When the subject [She] is replaced by ‘who’, it has
become a clause. A sentence is a
structure with a subject and a verb as well as with a complete meaning and it
makes sense. A subordinate clause is
also a structure with a subject and a verb but the meaning is not complete and
it is not independent. Therefore, ‘who
grew up in Japan’ is a relative clause /a subordinate clause, not a sentence.
In conclusion, we use ‘who’ to replace any human
gender subject that can be replaced by P1 in the Personal Pronouns.
2. [Francis] ^ knows how to manage his life
well. {[He] is self-disciplined and
self-
Willed}.
Francis {who is self-disciplined and
self-willed} knows how to manage his life well.
3. Do you know (the man^)? {[He] often plays the flute here}.
Do you know (the man) {who often plays the
flute here}?
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B. Possessive
Case
whose brain
1. That is the boy^. [His brain] was partially damaged at
birth.
That is the boy {[whose brain] was partially
damaged at birth}.
In the example above, the person in the subject matter
is ‘the boy’. In the second sentence,
the subject [His brain] and ‘His’ is the Possessive Adjective (P2), so we use
‘whose’ in the Possessive Case to replace ‘His’.
Then we place the whole clause right after the noun ‘the
boy’ to modify it.
In conclusion, we use ‘whose’ to replace any human
gender Possessive Adjective P2 in the Personal Pronouns. It is always the subordinate clause with the Possessive Adjective (P2) to be
replaced by ‘whose’ to be put right
after the noun it modifies just as the above example.
P2
2. That is /the man^/. {[His car] was punctured near to our school a
few days ago}.
That is the man {whose car was punctured
near to our school a few days ago}.
3. [The man]^ was sad. {[His house] was broken into a few
weeks ago}.
The man {[whose house] was broken
into a few weeks ago}was sad.
C. Objective
Case
whom
1. [The man]^ is blind. { ^I often see (*him) playing the flute in the
street}.
The man {(whom) I often see playing the
flute in the street} is blind.
In the example above, the person in the subject matter
is [the man]. In the second sentence, ‘I
often see (him) playing the flute in the street.’ The Objective Case (P3)
‘(him)’ can be replaced by Objective Case ‘whom’ in the Relative Pronouns and
‘whom’ is to introduce the clause ’I often see playing the flute in the
street’. Then the clause preceded by
‘whom’ is placed right after [The man] as the case above.
In conclusion, we use ‘whom’ to replace any human
gender Objective Case (P3) in Personal Pronouns. It is always the sentence that has the person
in the Objective Case (P3) to be replaced by ‘whom’ in the Relative Pronouns
and the clause is to be put right after the noun it modifies.
whom
2. [The students] were too restless to sit still. {^ Mrs
Huang scolded (them) for not
being attentive just now}.
The students whom Mrs Huang scolded for not being attentive
just now were too
restless to sit still.
whom
3. [Lawrence]
^is an optician. {^Mark often plays
tennis with (him)}.
Lawrence {whom Mark often plays tennis
with} is an optician.
Try and See
Fill in the blank
with ‘who / whose / whom’
1. The man __________ I bought a tortoise from
is very hardworking. 15
2. The girl __________ hair is plaited plays the
violin very well.
3. The aunt __________ Alina admires so much is
a nutritionist.
4. The man __________ walks with crutches
suffered the polio disease
during the childhood.
6. Hui Hui __________eyes are sparklingly bright
is very intelligent.
7. The lady __________ speaks the Chinese well
is a radio broadcaster.
Animal { [which]
v
Thing { [the noun of which] v }
v
{ [which] v
We use the Relative Pronouns ‘which (Nominative case /
Objective Case) / the noun of which ’ when the noun preceding it is an animal
or a thing.
which
1. [The computer] ^is very useful. [It] makes life so much easier.
The computer {which makes life so much
easier} is very useful.
In the example above, we use the Nominative case ‘which’ to replace the subject [It] and the
clause preceded by ‘which makes life so much easier’ is put right after [The
computer] to modify it. (Compare it with
‘who’)
which
2. [The dustbin] ^ is very unique. [The lid of (the dustbin)] is dented.
The dustbin {the lid of which is dented }
is very unique.
In the above example, the subject matter is [The
dustbin], so we use ‘which’ to
replace ‘the dustbin in the second
sentence. Then, we put the clause right
after [The dustbin] to modify it.
which
3. [This parrot] is very smart. ^I like (it) very much.
[This parrot]< which I like very
much> is very smart.
In the example above, we use the Objective Case
‘which’ in the Relative Pronouns to replace the Objective Case (P3) (for an
animal or thing) in the Personal Pronouns.
(Compare it with ‘whom’)
Try and See
Fill in the blanks
with ‘which / of which ’.
1. The eggs one __________ is broken are goose
eggs.
2. The periodical __________ is very dear has a
lot of useful information.
3. The loudspeaker _________ Maria is holding
now is very clear.
4. The clothes pegs many ____________ are made
of wood are can stand strong
sunlight well.
5. The mug _________ Tina likes very much has a Mickey Mouse picture.
6. The song __________ Joseph composed is very melodious. 16
The word “that” is
a Relative Pronoun here. It can replace “who
/ which” in the nominative case or “whom
/ which” in the objective case. It does
not have the Possessive case.
Hence :
George is Alice’s
uncle.
The one came last Tuesday.
The George{ that /who
came last Tuesday} is Alice’s uncle.
The George is
Peter’s maternal, not paternal uncle.
You saw (*him)
just now.
The George {that /
whom you saw just now} is Peter’s maternal, not paternal uncle.
The kitten is my
pet. It is fat and cute over there.
The kitten {that/
which is fat and cute over there} is my pet.
The kitten is sick. You gave (*it ) to Paul a few days ago.
The kitten {that
/which you gave to Paul a few days ago} is sick.
Note:
In the objective case “whom / which” when it replaces
P3 which is the object of a preposition, then you CAN’T use that to replace
it. For example:
That woman is the chief executive officer / CEO in this company.
Jina talked * to (her) just now.
That woman {whom Jina talked to just now} is the chief
executive officer in this company.
You cannot use the relative pronoun “that” to replace
whom in this case as the object “her” is the objective of the preposition “to”.
Yalee has a Pekinese.
She spends a lot of time *on ( it) every day.
Yalee has a
Pekinese *on which she spends a lot of time every day.
You may use “whose” in this case:
Cadity loves to eat and sleep all
day long.
Her kittens are cute and lovely.
[Cadity] {[whose kittens] are cute and lovely} loves to
eat and sleep all day long.
The usual way:
Cadity {the kittens
of which are cute and lovely} loves to eat and sleep all day long. 
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