Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns adalah kata ganti yang menunjuk pada kata benda yang mendahuluinya
(antecedent) yang berfungsi sebagai penghubung dalam kalimat. Relative pronouns biasa
diletakkan di awal subordinate clause atau anak kalimat yang menunjukkan relasi terhadap
keseluruhan kalimat.

Kata ganti yang digunakan adalah: who, whom, whose, which, dan that.

Contoh:
- The man who is sitting in the corner is my friend.
- The boy whom we visited is her boyfriend.
- The girl whose car was sold will go to study abroad.
- The filing cabinet, which we purchase last week, is very well built.
- The book that describes about behaviour of animal is expensive.

Kata who, whom, whose, which, dan that pada contoh di atas mengacu pada kata sebelumnya
(the man, the boy, the girl, the filling cabinet, the book).

Perluasan relative pronouns dengan kata ganti seperti whoever, whomever, whatever dikenal
sebagai indefinite relative pronouns.

Contoh:
- The boy will tease whomever he likes.
- She said whatever came to mind.
- Let in whoever comes to me.

Kata what juga dapat digunakan sebagai indefinite relative pronouns, contoh:
- I will tell you what you need to know.

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that marks a relative clause within a larger sentence. It is
called a relative pronoun because it relates the relative (and hence subordinate) clause to the
noun that it modifies. In English, the relative pronouns are: who, whom, whose, whosever,
whosesoever, which, and, in some treatments, that. In addition, English has various fused
relative pronouns, which combine in one word the antecedent and the relative pronoun: what,
whatever, whatsoever, whoever, whosoever, whomever, whomsoever, whichever, and
whichsoever,

A relative pronoun links two clauses into a single complex clause. It is similar in function to a
subordinating conjunction. Unlike a conjunction, however, a relative pronoun stands in place
of a noun. Compare:

(1) This is a house. Jack built this house.

(2) This is the house that Jack built.
Sentence (2) consists of two clauses, a main clause (This is the house) and a relative clause
(that Jack built). The word that is a relative pronoun in some analyses.[1] Within the relative
clause, the relative pronoun stands for the noun phrase it references in the main clause (its
antecedent), and is one of the arguments of the verb in the relative clause. In the example, the
argument is the house, the direct object of built.

Other arguments can be relativised using relative pronouns:

Subject: Hunter is the boy who kissed Jessica.

Indirect object: Hunter is the boy to whom Jessica gave a gift.
Adpositional complement: Jack built the house in which I now live. (similarly with
prepositions and prepositional phrases in general, for example These are the walls in
between which Jack ran.)
Possessor: Jack is the boy whose friend built my house.

In some languages, such as German and Latin, which have gender, number, and noun
declensions, the relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in gender and number, while its
case indicates its relationship with the verb in the relative clause. In some other languages,
the relative pronoun is an invariable word.

The words used as relative pronouns are often words which originally had other functions: for
example, the English which is also an interrogative word. This suggests that relative pronouns
might be a fairly late development in many languages. Some languages, such as Welsh, do
not have relative pronouns.

In English and German, different pronouns are sometimes used if the antecedent is a human
being, as opposed to a non-human or an inanimate object (as in who/that).

(5) This is a bank. This bank accepted my identification.

(6) She is a bank teller. She helped us open an account.

With the relative pronouns, sentences (5) and (6) would read like this:

(7) This is the bank that accepted my identification.

(8) She is the bank teller who helped us open an account.

In sentences (7) and (8), the words that and who are the relative pronouns. The word that is
used because the bank is a thing; the word who is used because "she" is a person.

In some languages with relative clauses, such as Mandarin Chinese, there are no relative
pronouns. In English, the relative pronoun may be optionally omitted, particularly in speech,
from a restrictive relative clause — that is, one which contributes to establishing the identity
of the antecedent — if the relative pronoun would serve as the object of the verb or of a
stranded preposition in the relative clause (as in This is the car I bought = This is the car that
I bought or This is the car you heard of = This is the car of which you heard).
Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It is called a "relative"

pronoun because it "relates" to the word that it modifies. Here is an example:

 The person who phoned me last night is my teacher.

In the above example, "who":

 relates to "person", which it modifies

 introduces the relative clause "who phoned me last night"

There are five relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that*

Who (subject) and whom (object) are generally only for people. Whose is for possession.
Which is for things. That can be used for people** and things and as subject and object in
defining relative clauses (clauses that are essential to the sentence and do not simply add
extra information).

Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference between male and
female.

Look at these examples showing defining and non-defining relative clauses:

example sentences
notes
S=subject, O=object, P=possessive

- The person who phoned me last night is

my teacher.
That is preferable
- The person that phoned me last night is
S my teacher.

- The car which hit me was yellow.

That is preferable
- The cars that hit me were yellow.

defining
- The person whom I phoned last night is my
teacher.
- The people who I phoned last night are my
teachers. Whom is correct but very formal.
O
- The person that I phoned last night is my The relative pronoun is optional.
teacher.
- The person I phoned last night is my
teacher.
 - The car which I drive is old.
That is preferable to which. The
- The car that I drive is old.
relative pronoun is optional.
- The car I drive is old.

- The student whose phone just rang should

stand up.
- Students whose parents are wealthy pay
extra.
P
- The police are looking for the car whose
driver was masked. Of which is usual for things, but
- The police are looking for the car of which whose is sometimes possible
the driver was masked.

- Mrs Pratt, who is very kind, is my teacher.

S
- The car, which was a taxi, exploded.
- The cars, which were taxis, exploded.

- Mrs Pratt, whom I like very much, is my

teacher. Whom is correct but very formal.
- Mr and Mrs Pratt, who I like very much, Who is normal.
O are my teachers.

non- - The car, which I was driving at the time,

defining suddenly caught fire.

- My brother, whose phone you just heard,

is a doctor.

- The car, whose driver jumped out just

P before the accident, was completely
destroyed. Of which is usual for things, but
- The car, the driver of which jumped out whose is sometimes possible
just before the accident, was completely
destroyed.
*Not all grammar sources count "that" as a relative pronoun.
**Some people claim that we cannot use "that" for people but must use "who/whom"; there is
no good reason for such a claim.