Part 6: Identifying Grammar Errors

Grammar: Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns do two jobs. First, as pronouns they refer to nouns and other pronouns. Secondly, they act as a type of conjunction, joining two parts of a sentence. These are the relative pronouns:

as	but	that	what	which
who	whoever	whom	whomever	whose

Basic rules to remember

• 1. In real usage, we could use two sentences, or two clauses separated by a semi-colon. However, with the use of a relative pronoun we can join them together into one meaningful sentence:
  • He is a teacher.
  • I saw him yesterday.
  • -> He is the teacher whom I saw yesterday.

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• 2. Although the antecedent is usually placed before the pronoun which refers to it, with relative pronouns this rule is often disregarded:

  No matter what I suggest, it wonąt be acceptable.

  It is the antecedent, even though it follows the what:

  It wonąt be acceptable, no matter what I suggest.

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• 3. Relative pronouns should be placed as close to their antecedents as possible:

  • RIGHT: Let he that is without sin cast the first stone.

    WRONG: Let he without that sin cast the first stone.

    WRONG: Let he without sin cast that first stone.

  The first sentence is a quote from the bible. The following two cases do not convey the original idea, and that is caused by misplacing the relative. In the first of the errors that refers to sin, while in the second error that refers to the first stone.

  Return to Word Order Handout

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• 4. When to use what:

  .	Animals	People	Things
  That	Yes	Yes	Yes
  What	Yes	No	Yes
  Which	Yes	Sometimes, more often in the past than now	Yes
  Who	No	Yes	No
  Whose	Sometimes	Yes	Sometimes

TOEIC part 6..........................................................................................Word Order

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