Home of English Grammar

Free Guide (Updated for 2023)

  • Home
  • Download Lessons
  • Grammar Rules
  • Online Exercises
  • Online Tools
    • Grammar Checker
    • Word Counter
  • Guides
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Lessons / The relative pronouns which, whose and what

The relative pronouns which, whose and what

August 28, 2013 - pdf

The relative pronoun which is used to refer to objects and animals. It cannot be used to refer to people. Which has the same form for the nominative (subject) and the accusative (object) case.

Which has no possessive form. But if we really need to express that idea, we can use a structure with of which. In a less formal style, we can express the same idea using whose + noun.

Note that whose can refer back to people or things. It can replace the pronouns its, their, hers and his.

He has a beautiful sister. I have forgotten her name.

He has a beautiful sister whose name I have forgotten.

The structure with which is not possible here because it cannot refer back to people.

It was a meeting. I did not comprehend its importance.

It was a meeting whose importance I did not comprehend.

OR

It was a meeting the importance of which I did not understand.

The umbrella the handle of which is broken was bought only last week.

OR

The umbrella whose handle was broken was bought only last week.

What

What has the same form in the nominative and in the accusative cases and is used only in the singular. What means ‘that which’ or ‘the things which’.

What cannot be cured must be endured. (= That which cannot be cured must be endured.)

I have got what I wanted. (= I have got the things which I wanted.)

Note that clauses beginning with what act as the subject or object of the verb in the main clause. For example, in the sentence given above, the clause ‘what I wanted’ is the object of the verb got.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
1,191,512 
602,821 

Check Your Grammar

GrammarCheck.net - Try online
Hint → Bookmark GrammarCheck for future use.

Latest Exercises

  • Mixed Grammar Exercise March 21, 2023
  • Conjunctions Exercise March 20, 2023
  • Question Tags Exercise March 19, 2023
  • Passive Voice Exercise March 18, 2023
  • Conjunctions Exercise March 18, 2023
  • Vocabulary Exercise March 17, 2023
  • Future Forms Quiz March 15, 2023
  • Conditionals Exercise March 14, 2023
  • Prepositions Quiz March 12, 2023

Topics

  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Business Writing
  • Commas
  • Conjunctions
  • Creative Writing
  • Difference
  • Essay Writing
  • Exercises
  • Learning
  • Lessons
  • Nouns
  • Prepositions
  • Pronouns
  • Proofreading
  • Punctuation
  • Quiz
  • Spelling
  • Style Guide
  • Teaching
  • Terms
  • Verbs
  • Words
  • Writing

Quiz

  • Can you correct these 14 basic grammar mistakes?
  • What kind of writer are you?

Copyright © 2023 · EnglishGrammar.org
Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Sitemap