Unit 6: Lesson Four

LESSON FOUR

You have learned a great deal about pronouns and the  other parts of speech which you have studied in previous Modules. In this Lesson you are going to focus on Interrogative Pronouns and Relative Pronouns because they have so much in common with each  other, and you are also going to learn to use pronouns in many different types of sentences. 

REVIEW: You have been busy learning many rules which cover pronouns and their uses. In Lesson Three you focused on the  following: 

∙ Compound pronouns 

∙ Pronouns used as appositives 

∙ Possessive case pronouns/adjectives 

∙ Reflexive pronouns 

∙ Intensive pronouns 

∙ Antecedents of pronouns 

∙ Subject-verb agreement with pronouns 

∙ Indefinite pronouns 

∙ Intervening prepositional phrases 

∙ Troublesome indefinite pronouns 

∙ Demonstrative pronouns 

 INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS 

✔ Another type of pronoun you have already studied is called  Interrogative Pronouns. These pronouns are used in questions. There are nine of them. Notice that all start with  "wh." 

✔ who 

✔ whom 

✔ which 

✔ whose 

✔ what 

✔ whoever 

✔ whomever 

✔ whichever 

✔ whatever

 Ex. Who is coming down the street? (Who is an Interrogative  Pronoun.) 

Ex. Which piece of candy do you want? (Which is an Interrogative  Pronoun.) 

RELATIVE PRONOUNS 

✔ Another type of pronoun is called Relative Pronouns. There are nine of them: 

✔ who 

✔ whom 

✔ which 

✔ whose 

✔ that 

✔ whoever 

✔ whomever 

✔ whichever 

✔ whatever 

✔ This is the same list that you learned under Interrogative  Pronouns except what has been replaced with that. Relative  Pronouns are not used to ask questions. Relative Pronouns  are used to introduce Dependent Clauses.  

✔ It does not make any difference whether the words who or whom are used as Interrogative Pronouns or as Relative Pronouns.  Who is Nominative Case and is used as a (1) subject or as a (2) predicate pronoun. Whom is used in the Objective Case as a (1) direct object, (2) indirect object, or (3) object of a preposition. 

Ex. Who is in the library? (First you need to find the verb -- is.  Then you need to say what or who is? In this case the only  possible subject for is is the Interrogative Pronoun who. In this sentence the word who is the subject of the verb is and is in  the Nominative Case.)  

Ex. To (whom, who) did you go for advice? (In questions, try to  change the wording into a statement -- You did go for advice to  whom?) In this sentence, whom is in the Objective Case  because it is an object of the preposition -- to whom.)  

Ex. She is the student (who, whom) you can trust. (The Dependent  Clause is who/whom you can trust. Find the verb in the  clause -- can trust. Who can trust? You can trust. You can trust whom? -- direct object -- Objective Case.)  

IMPORTANT POINT TO REMEMBER 

Rule: In sentences containing expressions such as do you say,  did you say, do you think, did you think, do you suppose, did  you suppose, he says, I believe, I suppose, we thought, he  thought, he hoped, etc., leave these parenthetical expressions  out in order to decide which is needed -- who or whom. Ex. The stranger could be who. (Use Nominativ Case who after I. L.  verb.)  

Ex. (Who, Whom) do you suppose the stranger could be? The  stranger could be who. (Could be is an I. L. verb. A predicate  pronoun is needed after an I. L. verb. A predicate pronoun must be  in the Nominative Case – who.) 

TELL ME MORE! Click the PLAY button to hear additional information. 

CONJUNCTIONS/CLAUSES AND PRONOUNS 

✔ An Independent Clause has at least one subject [might be  a pronoun subject], at least one verb, and a complete  thought. Ex. It barks loudly. 

✔ A Dependent Clause has at least one subject [might be a  pronoun subject], at least one verb, but not a complete  thought. Ex. although it barks 

✔ A compound sentence consists of two or more  Independent Clauses. Ex. It barks, and the owl hoots. 

✔ A complex sentence consists of one Independent Clause and one or more Dependent Clauses. Ex. Although it barks,  the owl still hoots. 

✔ A compound-complex sentence consists of two or more Independent Clauses and one or more Dependent Clauses. 

Ex. It barks, and the owl hoots because the squirrels climb whichever tree they like.  

SIMPLE CO-ORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS 

✔ The second subgroup of Co-ordinate Conjunctions is called  Correlative Co-ordinate Conjunctions. These conjunctions  go in pairs or TWINS: 

whether...or 

either...or 

neither...nor 

both...and 

not only...but also 

just as...so . 

These conjunctions will be referred to as Correlative. 

SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTIONS 

✔ A second major group of conjunctions is called Subordinate  Conjunctions. These conjunctions begin a certain type of  Dependent Clause (Adverb Clause). The important thing to  remember about these conjunctions is that they begin  Dependent Clauses; and since Dependent Clauses cannot stand  on their own, these word groups (globs which stick together) cannot be written as a complete sentence. Here is an example.  Because is a Subordinate Conjunction. Because it is raining  outside is a Dependent Clause. Is raining is the verb; it is the  subject of the verb. Even though you have a subject and a  verb, you do not have a complete thought in this group of words; therefore, you have a Dependent Clause and must not write Because it is raining outside with a period at the end because it is not a complete sentence.  

REVIEW OF TYPES OF CONJUNCTIONS 

I. Co-ordinate Conjunctions -- join word groups of equal rank 

A. Simple Co-ordinate Conjunctions -- but, or, yet, (sometimes)  for, and, nor 

 B. Coorelative Co-Ordinate Conjunctions -- //whether...or//  //either...or// //neither...nor// //both...and// //not only...but also//  //just as...so// ***Remember: twins

II. Subordinate Conjunctions -- used to introduce Adverb Dependent  Clauses - although, as if, because, if, so that, than, unless, even though,  

when, where, while, that, though, whenever, wherever, whether, as long as,  as though, in order that, provided, whatever, as far as, considering,  inasmuch as, so long as, whereas -- (those which are also on the  preposition list) -- after, as, before, since, until, till 

DEPENDENT CLAUSES WITH "THAN" OR "AS" 

✔ When you have Dependent Clauses which begin with "than" or  "as" and words are left out, you need to choose the Nominative or Objective Case of the pronoun which you would use if the  missing words were stated as a part of the Dependent Clause. 

Ex. She runs more athletically [than I]. (She runs more  athletically than I do.) When you express the verb do, you  can see that I is the subject of the Dependent Clause than I  do. It is correct to use the Nominative Case when the  pronoun is the subject of a verb even if the verb is in a  Dependent Clause.  

✔ Here is another example where words have been left out of the  Dependent Clause.  

Ex. The accident scared George [as much as me]. (The  accident scared George as much as it scared me.) In this  sentence the pronoun me is correct because it is the D. O. of the verb scared. The Dependent Clause is as much as it  scared me. 

✔ One other example arises where you can complete the  sentence with either an Objective or a Nominative Case Pronoun, depending upon which one fits the sentence.  

Ex. The mother cat loves the kitten more than I (love the  kitten.) In this sentence the Nominative Case Pronoun I is  correct because it is the subject of love.  

Ex. The mother cat loves the kitten more than (the mother cat  loves) me. (In this sentence the Objective Case pronoun  me is correct because it is the D. O. of the understood verb loves.)  

✔ As you look at long, complicated-looking sentences, the first thing you should do is to find the verb and then its subject plus  all words which seem to cling together. This is a clause. Separate the sentence into clauses and then check the pronoun  usage in each clause for accuracy.  

Ex. When the other choirs arrive for the big concert, we and  they will begin our final warm-ups. (When the other choirs  arrive for the big concert -- Dependent Clause) (we and  they will begin our final warm-ups -- Independent  Clause) In the Independent Clause, the verb is will  begin. We and they are the two subjects for the verb -- Nominative Case Pronouns. 

Ex. Because she has a dental appointment early this morning, she wants them, Sandra and him, to wait in the outer office until the nurse and he arrive. 

Because she has a dental appointment early this morning -- first Dependent Clause (she -- subject, Nominative Case) she wants them, Sandra and him, to wait in the  outer office -- Independent Clause (she -- subject,  Nominative Case; them -- Direct Object, Objective Case; him -- appositive renaming them; them -- Objective Case, therefore, him Objective Case) 

until the nurse and he arrive -- second Dependent Clause (he -- part of compound subject -- Nominative Case)