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#1
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| Why is 'whoever' a relative pronoun in this sentence: 'Whoever comes will be welcomed.' I read that the definition of a relative pronoun is: 'Relative pronouns relate back to a noun or pronoun in a preceding clause, and they connect the two clauses.' I read elsewhere that: 'The relative pronoun introduces a subordinate clause.' These definitions seem clear in the following examples (independent clauses = bold text, subordinate clauses = everything not highlighted): The man who lives next door broke his leg. [who refers back to man] The refrigerator which had just been delivered needed cleaning. [which refers back to refrigerator] The book that I bought was on sale. [that refers back to book] He is a man in whom I have great confidence. [whom refers to man] I found a book whose pages were torn [whose refers to book] |
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#2
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| "I know what I like" That's some really good questions. I'd be interesting to know this as well. I'm raking my brain, but I can't seem to come up with an example where what is used as a relative pronoun. In the above sentence I don't think "what" introduces a subordinate clause. It's weird, Englishplus.com doesn't seem to consider "what" as relative pronoun: "Relative Pronoun A relative pronoun "relates" a subordinate clause to the rest of the sentence. It may be found in adjective and noun clauses. A relative pronoun is found only in sentences with more than one clause. In modern English there are five relative pronouns: that, which, who, whom, and whose. All but that can also be interrogative pronouns. That may also be a demonstrative pronoun. In addition, these pronouns may take the suffixes -ever and -soever." I checked the glossary on this website and came up with a similar answer: "Relative pronouns, such as That, Who, Which, Whose and Whom can be used to introduce clauses in sentences" None of them refer to "what" as a relative pronoun. I know in your example it's not an interrogative pronoun but I don't know what kind of pronoun it is. Last edited by Noego; 13-Apr-2007 at 07:49. |
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