English grammar

298. Just as an adverbial clause is joined to what it modifies by a conjunctive adverb or a subordinate conjunction, so an adjective clause must be joined to the noun it modifies by some connecting word.

In Lesson LXVI it was shown that this word may be a conjunctive adverb, as in the sentence, “I can never forget the night when I first heard the whippoorwill sing.” What is the clause here? What does it modify? How is it joined to the word that it modifies?

299. Most adjective clauses are introduced by some other word than a conjunctive adverb. In the sentence, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world,” the adjective clause that rocks the cradle is joined to the noun hand, which it modifies, by the word that. This word is used as subject of the verb rocks, and really means hand. Since it takes the place of a noun, it is a pronoun; and since this noun, or antecedent, precedes the pronoun, we say that the pronoun relates to its antecedent, and we call it a relative pronoun.

300. The relative pronouns that introduce adjective clauses are who, which, and that.

Who has three case forms: nominative, who; possessive, whose; objective, whom.

Which has the possessive form whose; that has no possessive form.

Which and that do not change their form for the objective case.

301. A relative pronoun always has a use in the adjective clause that it introduces. This is the same use that the antecedent would have if it were used in place of the pronoun.

The four common uses are:—

(1) Subject of a verb; as, “He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day.”

(2) Object of a verb; as, “This is the day that the Lord hath made.”

(3) Object of a preposition; as, “I saw the room in which Shakespeare was born.”

Note.—Sometimes the pronoun comes before the preposition; as, “The buggy that we rode in was low and light.”

(4) Possessive modifier; as, “Any boy whose memory is good can learn a history lesson.”

302. The relative pronoun that introduces only restrictive adjective clauses. The pronouns who, whose, whom, and which may introduce either restrictive or unrestrictive clauses.

303. Who has for its antecedent the name of some person; which has for its antecedent the name of some thing. The antecedent of that may be the name of a person or a thing.

304. The word but may be used as a relative pronoun as a substitute for the two words that not. Instead of saying, “There is no day that has not an end,” we may say, “There is no day but has an end.” This is a better sentence than the first because it contains only one negative word.

305. The word as may be used as a relative pronoun following the words such, same, or as many. We say,—

I like such flowers as you sent me.

Your dress is the same color as mine.

I will take as many apples as will fill this basket.

I want such a chair as you are sitting in now.

In each of the sentences above, what is the use of the relative pronoun as in the clause that it introduces?

Summary.—A relative pronoun is one that refers to a preceding noun or pronoun, and joins to it an adjective clause.

The relative pronouns that introduce adjective clauses are who, which, and that.

As and but are sometimes used as relative pronouns.

306. When we parse a relative pronoun we tell,—

(1) Its antecedent.

(2) What adjective clause it joins to its antecedent.

(3) Its case.

(4) Its use in the adjective clause.

Exercise 1.—Parse all the relative pronouns in the following sentences:—

1. In came the six young followers whose hearts the Misses Fezziwig broke.

2. There were the wide sweeps of forest through which the winter tempests howled, upon which hung the haze of summer heat, over which the great shadows of summer clouds traveled.

3. Susie was a well-behaved child, who took care of her clothes and played quiet games.

4. And now the dandelion is a pest—the same yellow dandelion with its long, bitter, milky stem that we children sought for in the shady fence corners to make into spiral curls.

5. Buffers had a small moustache, which he fostered much, and a cane with which he was not yet very familiar.

6. She bade me good-by as if I were a friend of her family whom she would gladly meet again.

7. There is only one bird that terrifies the crow, and that is the owl.

8. Solomon John proposed that they should open the window, a thing which Agamemnon could easily do with his long arms.

9. There was one lady whose conversation at the best of times made my mother sleepy.

10. The two men shared those mysterious rites of smoking and shaving and discussing stocks which occupy men when they are left to themselves.

11. The turkey cock, who had been born into the world with spurs, and thought he was a king, puffed himself out like a ship with full sails, and flew at the duckling.

12. In a few moments Ned arrived at a small open glade in the middle of the forest, in which, to his horror, he saw a lion upon the body of a man, whom he seized by the throat, while Nero stood within a few yards, baying him furiously.

13. He lives longest who does most.

Exercise 2.—Analyze the following sentences:—

1.

No time is like the old time when you and I were young,

When the buds of April blossomed, and the birds of spring-time sung.

2.

No place is like the old place, where you and I were born,

Where we lifted first our eyelids on the splendor of the morn.

3. No friend is like the old friend, who has shared our morning days.

4. At the teachers’ meeting, which she regularly attended with her mother, Gertrude saw the pale-faced little lady whom the children called a “Grahamite.”

5. The old broken gate which a gentleman would not tolerate an hour upon his grounds is a great beauty in the picture which hangs in his parlor.

6. Often the road passes between lofty walls of solid rock, from the crevices of which all lovely growths are springing.

7.

Read from some humbler poet,

Whose songs gushed from his heart,

As rain from the clouds in summer,

Or tears from the eyelids start.

8. Michel was a vivacious, lean little Frenchman, who fulfilled the duties of a chambermaid very adroitly.

9. The first thing that my pet starling imitated was the rumbling of carts and carriages on the street.

10. In one corner of the fireplace sat a superannuated crony, whom the sexton called John Ange, and who had been his companion from childhood.

11. The good ship Humber is taking home a regiment whose term of service has expired.

12. Madame took for breakfast two fresh eggs, which her two hens laid for her every morning with the perfect regularity that is the politeness of all well-bred poultry.

13.

The boy stood on the burning deck,

Whence all but him had fled.

14. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.

15. Sycamore Ridge might have been one of the dreary villages that dot the wind-swept plain to-day, instead of the bright, prosperous elm-shaded town that it is.