Unit 3.1

Relative Pronouns of People and Things


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Introduction

Pronouns are words used to avoid repetitions of a noun.

Relative pronouns are used to introduce relative clauses. They refer to people or things by replacing the subject expressed in the main clause to avoid the repetition of it in the relative clause.

Form

Other relative pronouns of people and things are whom, whose, whomever, whoever and whichever.

Example

  • I called the salesman from whom I bought this watch.
  • This is the hairdresser to whom I wanted to speak.
  • Helen, whose father is a baker, lives in an industrial city.
  • This is the painter whose statue is in the main square of the city.
  • We will accept in our team whomever you recommend.
  • Give the gifts to whomever you have missed.
  • Whoever was there I don’t care.
  • Hana, whoever comes to the party we have enough cake.
  • May I go to whichever theater I want?
  • Pick whichever picture you would like to edit.

Use

We use relative pronouns to identify people and things and to add secondary/additional information about them. We use:

  • whom to discover which person receives an action;
  • whose to find out which person something or somebody belongs to;
  • whoever to express the subject that doesn’t matter who it is;
  • whomever to express the object that doesn’t matter who it is;
  • whichever to express something that doesn’t matter what it is.

Summary

Relative pronouns are used in order to avoid repetition of a noun in the relative clause. They are used after nouns.

The most commonly used relative pronouns are: whom (object) is used for people, whose for possession, whoever (subject) when it doesn’t matter who, whomever (object) when it doesn’t matter who, whichever when it doesn’t matter which thing.

For example:
— “I am dating the girl whom I met at the restaurant.” = Whom refers to the girl.
— “The girl, whose brother owns this restaurant, is Italian.” = Whose refers to the girl.

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.

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