Relative pronoun

From Awe

Relative pronouns are pronouns (words which stand for nouns) – which relate one meaning to another meaning. The commonest are 'that', 'which', 'who' and 'whose'. 'Where' and 'when' also fit this pattern. In form, most relative pronouns are wh- words, and are the same as interrogative pronouns. The difference lies in how they are used in a sentence.

Relative pronouns often behave like subordinating conjunctions.

‘Who’ is like the personal pronouns, in that it inflects for case. The forms are:

Subjective	Objective	Determinative Possessive	Independent Possessive
who	whom	whose	whose

• For a common grammatical confusion about the case of 'who', see who - whom.
• For advice on a common spelling error, see who's - whose.