2015-08-21
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Relative pronouns as subject:
People He is the man who (or that) lives next door
Things This is the photo which (or that) shows my house
Possession He is the man whose car was stolen
Relative pronouns as object:
People He is the man {who/whom/that) I met
People He is the man (-) I gave the money to
Things This is the photo (which/that) I took
Things This is the pan { -) I boiled the milk in
Possession It was an agreement the details of which could not be altered
Relative pronouns relating to people
Relative pronouns which can be used with reference to people are who whom and that and the possessive whose Don't confuse the relative pronoun that with the subordinating conjunction [> 1.23]
Relative pronoun subject of relative clause: people
Who and that can be used in place of noun subjects or subject
pronouns (/ you he, etc) [> 4.3] When they refer to the subject they
cannot normally be omitted We never use a subject pronoun and a
relative pronoun together to refer to the subject Not "He is the man
who he lives next door* Who and that remain unchanged whether they
refer to masculine feminine, singular or plural
masculine He is the man who/that lives next door
feminine She is the woman who/that lives next door
plural masculine They are the men who/that live next door
plural feminine They are the women who/that live next door
We can use that in place of who, but we generally prefer who when the reference is to a person or persons as subject of the verb
1 The sentence
Typical defining relative clause with 'who' as subject
Who or that is possible in the relative clause A doctor examined the astronauts They returned from space today A doctor examined the astronauts who returned from space today
Typical non-defining relative clause with 'who' as subject
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Who must be used in non-defining clauses that is not possible The astronauts are expected to land on the moon shortly They are reported to be very cheerful
The astronauts who are reported to be very cheerful are expected to land on the moon shortly
Relative pronouns relating to things and animals
Relative pronouns which can be used with reference to things and animals are which and that [but compare > 4.8]
