relative pronouns

The relative pronouns are:

Subject	Object	Possessive
who	who(m)	whose
which	which	whose
that	that

We use who and whom for people, and which for things.
Or we can use that for people or things.

We use relative pronouns:

• after a noun, to make it clear which person or thing we are talking about:

the house that Jack built
the woman who discovered radium
an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop

• in relative clauses to tell us more about a person or thing:

My mother, who was born overseas, has always been a great traveller.
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
We had fish and chips, which is my favourite meal.

But we do not use that as a subject in relative clauses.

We use whose as the possessive form of who:

This is George, whose brother went to school with me.

We sometimes use whom as the object of a verb or preposition:

This is George, whom you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, with whom I went to school.

But nowadays we normally use who:

This is George, who you met at our house last year.
This is George’s brother, who I went to school with.

When whom or which have a preposition the preposition can come at the beginning of the clause...

I had an uncle in Germany, from who[m] I inherited a bit of money.
We bought a chainsaw, with which we cut up all the wood.

… or at the end of the clause:

I had an uncle in Germany who[m] I inherited a bit of money from.
We bought a chainsaw, which we cut all the wood up with.

We can use that at the beginning of the clause:

I had an uncle in Germany, that I inherited a bit of money from.
We bought a chainsaw, that we cut all the wood up with.

indefinite pronouns

The indefinite pronouns are:

somebody	someone	something
anybody	anyone	anything
nobody	no one	nothing
everybody	everyone	everything

We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. We use pronouns ending in -body or -one for people, and pronouns ending in -thing for things:

Everybody enjoyed the concert.
I opened the door but there was no one at home.
It was a very clear day. We could see everything.

We use a singular verb after an indefinite pronoun:

Everybody loves Sally.
Everything was ready for the party.

When we refer back to an indefinite pronoun we normally use a plural pronoun:

Everybody enjoyed the concert. They stood up and clapped.
I will tell somebody that dinner is ready. They have been waiting a long time.

We can add -'s to an indefinite pronoun to make a possessive.

They were staying in somebody’s house.
Is this anybody’s coat?

We use indefinite pronouns with no- as the subject in negative clauses (not pronouns with any.)

Anybody didn’t come >> Nobody came.

We do not use another negative in a clause with nobody, no one or nothing:

Nobody came.
Nothing happened.

We use else after indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things in addition to the ones we already mentioned.

All the family came, but no one else.
If Michael can’t come we’ll ask somebody else.
So that's eggs, peas and chips. Do you want anything else?

reciprocal pronouns: each other and one another

We use the reciprocal pronouns each other and one another when two or more people do the same thing. Traditionally, each other refers to two people and one another refers to more than two people, but this distinction is disappearing in modern English.

• Peter and Mary helped one another.
  = Peter helped Mary and Mary helped Peter.
• We sent each other Christmas cards.
  = We sent them a Christmas card and they sent us a Christmas card.
• They didn’t look at one another.
  = He didn't look at her and she didn't look at him.

We also use the possessive forms each other’s and one another’s:

They helped to look after each other’s children.
We often stayed in one another’s houses.

NOTE: We do not use reciprocal pronouns as the subject of a clause.

reflexive pronouns

The reflexive pronouns are:

Singular:	myself - yourself - himself - herself - itself
Plural:	ourselves - yourselves - themselves

When we use a reflexive pronoun

We use a reflexive pronoun:

• as a direct object when the object is the same as the subject of the verb:

I am teaching myself to play the piano.
Be careful with that knife. You might cut yourself.

We can use a reflexive pronoun as direct object with most transitive verbs, but these are the most common:

amuse	blame	cut	dry	enjoy	help
hurt	introduce	kill	prepare	satisfy	teach

Some verbs change their meaning slightly when they have a reflexive pronoun as direct object:

• Would you like to help yourself to another drink?
  = Would you like to take another drink.
• I wish the children would behave themselves.
   = I wish the children would behave well.
• He found himself lying by the side of the road.
  = He was surprised when he realised that he was at the side of the road.
• I saw myself as a famous actor.
  = I imagined that I was a famous actor.
• She applied herself to the job of mending the lights.
  = She worked very hard to mend the lights.
• He busied himself in the kitchen.
   = He worked busily in the kitchen.
• I had to content myself with a few Euros.
  = I had to be satisfied with a few Euros.

We do not use a reflexive pronoun after verbs which describe things people usually do for themselves, such as wash,shave, dress:

He washed [himself] in cold water.
He always shaved [himself] before going out in the evening.
Michael dressed [himself] and got ready for the party.

We only use reflexives with these verbs for emphasis:

He dressed himself in spite of his injuries.
She’s old enough to wash herself.

• as indirect object when the indirect object is the same as the subject of the verb:

Would you like to pour yourself a drink.
We’ve brought ourselves something to eat.

• as the object of a preposition when the object refers to the subject of the clause:

They had to cook for themselves.
He was feeling very sorry for himself.

Warning
But we use personal pronouns, not reflexives, after prepositions of place... He had a suitcase beside him. and after with when it means "accompanied by": She had a few friends with her.

We use a reflexive with the preposition by...

• when we want to show that someone did something alone and/or without any help:

He lived by himself in an enormous house.
She walked home by herself.

The children got dressed by themselves.
I prepared the whole meal by myself.

• to emphasise the person or thing we are referring to:

Kendal itself is quite a small town.

especially if we are talking about someone very famous:

Sir Paul McCartney himself sang the final song.

We often put the reflexive pronoun at the end of the clause when we are using it for emphasis:

I baked the bread myself.
She mended the car herself

Activities

questions

Which question word to use?

We use who to ask questions about people:

Who is that?
Who lives here?
Who did you see?

We use whose to ask about possession:

Whose coat is this? [or] Whose is this coat?
Whose book is that? [or] Whose is that book?
Whose bags are those? [or] Whose are those bags?

We use what to ask questions about things:

What is that?
What do you want?

We use which to ask someone to choose something:

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
I’ve got two books. Which do you want?

We can also use what and which with nouns:

What subjects did you study at school?
What newspaper do you read?
Which newspaper do you read – the Times or the Guardian?
Which book do you want?
Which one is yours?

Questions with prepositions:

Questions ending in prepositions are very common in English. After Who, Which or What we often have a preposition at the end of the sentence:

Who does this book belong to?
What are you looking for?
Which university did you go to?
What country do you come from?

Activities