Using relative pronouns as reference words

[Joe Carillo]

We have already reviewed four reference word strategies, or the use of specific grammatical devices that allow us to clarify and enliven our spoken or written prose and to avoid unnecessarily repeating ourselves. Those strategies are the use of demonstrative reference words, the use of broader meaning and summary words, and the use of synonyms and related words. This time we will take up one last strategy: the use of relative pronouns to allow us to provide additional information about the nouns preceding them in the sentence. Relative pronouns, you will recall, serve to link dependent clauses or phrases to their antecedent nouns, doing so as intermediate subjects or objects of those dependent clauses.

It may come as a surprise, but we have already encountered most of those relative pronouns—“which,” “who,” “that,” and “whose” and the compounds “whoever,” “whomever,” and “whichever”—in their more usual roles as subordinating conjunctions. Recall that they are better known as the subordinators, those word-markers that announce and link subordinate clauses or phrases to the main—and independent—clauses, resulting in complex sentences.

Relative pronouns as subjects of the dependent clause. Take a look at this use of the relative pronoun “which”: “Voters have to decide which of the candidates can serve the national interest best.” Here, “which” works as a subordinate conjunction, serving as the subject of the dependent clause “which of the candidates can serve the national interest best” and as the object of the verb “decide” in the main clause “voters have to decide.” It’s as simple as that.

Now, in case some of you are already bristling at the idea of using “which” in reference to the word “candidates” that happens to be a personal noun, we can easily recast the sentence using “who” as reference word: “Voters have to decide who among the candidates can serve the national interest best.” This time, it’s the reference word “who” that serves as the subject of the dependent clause and as the object of the verb “decide” in the independent clause. We can be confident now that when “which” and “who” are used as subjects of a dependent clause, that hoary rule that limits them to inanimate nouns and personal nouns, respectively, doesn’t necessarily apply; the more important thing is how they are used in the sentence.

Relative pronouns as objects of the dependent clause. Now let’s see how the relative pronoun “that” works as the object of the dependent clause. Take a look at this sentence: “The speaker that we invited to the seminar is a well-regarded civic leader.” (In informal usage, we can omit “that” in constructions like this, so that sentence will read as follows: “The speaker we invited to the seminar is a well-regarded civic leader.”) Here, the relative pronoun “that” relates back to the noun “speaker”; it’s also the object of the verb “invited.” Note that the dependent clause “that we invited to the seminar” makes a welcome qualifying intrusion into the independent clause, “The speaker […] is a well-regarded civic leader.”

An important thing to remember is that the subordinators “that” and “who” are our only choices as relative pronoun when the dependent clause is essential information to the independent clause. When the dependent clause can be taken out without altering the meaning of the independent clause, then we should use the subordinator “which” in the case of inanimate things, but this time we should set the subordinate clause apart from the independent clause with two commas: “That historic decision, which I have every reason to believe was made under duress, changed the course of history.” The relative pronoun “who,” of course, can be used whether the dependent clause is essential or not: “The spy who loved me came in from the cold.” “This traitorous spy, who made a mockery of all our security measures, must suffer for his perfidy.”

Relative pronouns as reference markers for possession. The relative pronoun “whose,” as all of us already know, serves as a reference marker for defining relative clauses that denote possession or ownership: “That’s the woman whose husband was arrested in the drug bust last night.” “Never completely trust a man whose trustworthiness has not been demonstrated.” Defining clauses like “whose husband was arrested in the drug bust last night” and “whose trustworthiness has not been demonstrated” are always essential to the independent clause and should never be set apart with commas.

Relative pronouns referring to the subject of a clause or to the object of a verb. When the subject of a clause or sentence is a person or group of people, we can use the relative pronouns “whom” and “whomever” in relating defining relative clauses with them: “The presidential candidate will choose whom [whomever] he likes to be part of his senatorial slate.” Here, “whom” or “whomever” is the direct object of the verb “chooses.” On the other hand, when the subject of a clause or sentence is an inanimate thing, we use the relative pronoun “whichever” instead to make the link: “I will accept whichever proposal will benefit our group best.”

This essay, which first appeared in my weekly column “English Plain and Simple” in The Manila Times, subsequently became Chapter 59 of my book Giving Your English the Winning Edge, ©2009 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

Read this essay and listen to its voice recording in The Manila Times:
Using relative pronouns as reference words

Next week: The usefulness of resumptive modifiers     (November 21, 2024)

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