| Relative Pronoun |
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A relative pronoun links two clauses into a single complex clause. To this extent, it is similar in function to a subordinating conjunction. Unlike a conjunction, however, a relative pronoun stands in place of a noun. Compare: :(1) ''This is a house. Jack built this house.'' :(2) ''This is the house that Jack built.'' Sentence (2) consists of two clauses, a main clause (''This is the house'') and a relative clause (''that Jack built''). The word ''that'' is a relative pronoun. Within the relative clause, the relative pronoun stands for the noun phrase it references in the main clause, which is one of the Argument s of the verb in the relative clause. In the example, the argument is ''the house'', the direct object of ''built''. Other arguments can be relativised using relative pronouns: :Subject: ''Jack is the boy who kissed Jenny.'' :Indirect object: ''Jack is the boy that Jenny gave a gift to.'' :Adpositional complement: ''Jack built the house in which I now live.'' :Possessor: ''Jack is the boy whose friend built my house.'' Not all languages have relative pronouns. Those that do tend to use words which originally had other functions; for example, the English ''which'' is also an Interrogative Word . This suggests that relative pronouns might be a fairly late development in many languages. Relative pronouns may or may not agree with the antecedent. In Spanish , for example, some relative pronouns agree in Gender and number with the noun they modify. In English, different pronouns are sometimes used if the antecedent is a human being, as opposed to a non-human or an inanimate object (as in ''who''/''that''). In other languages, the relative pronoun is an invariable word. SEE ALSO
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