relative pronoun

American  

noun

relative pronouns plural

1. one of the pronouns who, whom, which, what, their compounds with -ever or -soever, or that used as the subordinating word to introduce a subordinate clause, especially such a pronoun referring to an antecedent.

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Commonly Confused

See who.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• relative pronouns
  plural

Etymology

Origin of relative pronoun

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

relative pronoun

The English language adds more physical weight and hard sound, with the audibility of the relative pronoun, "that", and the predominance of masculine line-endings contributory factors.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 11, 2013

As the relative pronoun beginning the next clause refers to this exclamation, mouths must be taken as a bold metaphor meaning men who are all mouth, or are supremely greedy and selfish.

From Minor Poems by Milton by Milton, John

The general rule is, that the relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person and number.

From An English Grammar by Sewell, James Witt

The relative pronoun has other offices in the sentence than that of connecting the dependent and principal clauses.

From Practical Grammar and Composition by Wood, Thomas

You can not fail to observe the true character of this word called by our grammarians "adjective pronoun," "relative pronoun," and "conjunction."

From Lectures on Language As Particularly Connected with English Grammar. by Balch, William Stevens