1.10.6 Relative pronouns

Rule: The relative pronouns are who(m) or that for people, which or that for things, when for time, and where for place.

Examples of errors:

1. People are looking for a strong person which can restore order.
2. Workers which work in factories should also have more leisure time.
3. Sexual morality is the kind of morality who changed most.
4. Documentaries who fulfill these requirements are rare.
5. I hope there will be a topic next week where I'll really be able to say something about.
6. These are the days where the stores make a lot of money.
7. I have waited for a long time for a good winter where it is snowy for six or seven weeks.
8. I last saw her on Nov. 3. where she stopped by on her way to Hamburg.
9. She won't hear anything about that what he said.
10. The child remembers that what he has heard.
11. All that what appears in writing is literature.

Which is never used as a relative pronoun referring to person (cf. (l)-(2)). In a restrictive relative clause, i.e. when no pauses or commas separate the clause from the rest of the sentence, that as well as who(m) are possible when referring to people. That can also refer to things, but who(m) can refer only to people. (cf. (3)-(5)). (In (5) the antecedent noun is topic.)

When and where can also be used as relative pronouns, representing adverbials of time or place, respectively, in the relative clause. The problem in (6)(8) is simply that where is used instead of when with a temporal antecedent. There are cases, it is true, when the antecedent can be interpreted as either temporal or locative and either pronoun is acceptable, e.g.:

This is the point where/when you begin to wonder.

= You begin to wonder at this point (in place or in time)

The antecedents in (6)-(9) are clearly temporal, though:

The stores make a lot of money on/during these days.

It is snowy for six or seven weeks in/during a good winter.

She stopped by on her way to Hamburg on Nov. 3.

Alternatively, where and when can be replaced by a prepositional phrase with which as the complement, e.g.:

These are the days on which the stores make a lot of money.

I have waited for a long time for a good winter during which it is snowy for six or seven weeks.

I last saw her on Nov. 3, on which day she stopped by on her way to Hamburg.

That what is not a possible collocation. That which is possible in (9)-(ll), though what(ever) is less formal and more likely. If what(ever) is used the clause is described as a nominal relative, because the antecedent noun (or-pronoun) that has disappeared and the clause itself now functions as a noun phrase--i.e. as prepositional complement (about what he said), direct object (remembers what he has heard) or as subject (whatever appears in writing). There is a difference in meaning between what and whatever, though it is not always apparent. The difference is very slight, for example, in (10)-(ll). In (9), however, whatever would imply that the speaker does not know what he said; what does not have this implication.