Relative | Annotation hierarchies

Relative
- Relative pronouns
  
  The most common relative pronouns in written English are that, where, which, who/whom/whose, and why. Correct use of these words helps a text to feel more formal.
  
  The bird that is sitting in the tree is black and white.
  
  This formulation is inefficient for the user, who is forced to specify a large number of variables.
  
  People whose car does not meet the standard could decide to use other means of transportation.
  
  [Note that the correct use of relative pronouns in formal academic writing can differ from spoken or informal English, in which the relative pronouns are often dropped. The following example is not grammatically incorrect, but it is less formal.
  
  The bird sitting in the tree is black and white.]
- that
  - Using that
    
    The relative pronouns that and which are easily confused, and there is no definitive correct usage; furthermore, these words are often used differently in speech. However, the two words are generally not used in an exactly identical fashion in writing. That often refers only to the noun just before the word that, and the word is commonly used to introduce restrictive clauses (see below).
    
    These simple rules yield a puzzle that cannot be solved through trial and error.
    
    The phrase “that cannot be solved through trial and error” is called a restrictive or defining clause, and it adds crucial information about the word “puzzle”. A restrictive clause can not be set off by a comma.
- when
  - Using when
    
    The relative pronoun when is used to introduce a clause that indicates a time.
    
    Yesterday was a day when everything went wrong. ***
    
    When can also used to mean approximately “if”.
    
    The estimates are quite robust when adding economic control variables. (If the economic control variables are added, then the estimates are robust.)
- where
  - Using where
    
    The relative pronoun where is used when a physical location is being referred to. Where is also often used when identifying variables in equations or in figures.
    
    The lab where the element was discovered burned down in 1902.
    
    The relationship between the displacement field, the electric field and the polarization is D = ε0E + P, where ε0 is the electric constant.
    
    Where can also be used to refer to publications, although the phrase “in which” is more formal than where in these cases.
    
    Arwill-Nordbladh wrote a compendium of gender theory in archaeology, where she argues that archaeology is androcentric in numerous ways.
- which
  - Using which
    
    The relative pronouns which and that are easily confused, and there is no definitive correct usage; furthermore, these words are often used differently in speech. However, the two words are generally not used in an exactly identical fashion in writing. Which often refers to the idea presented by the entire previous clause, and the word is commonly used to introduce non-restrictive clauses (see below).
    
    A claim was made that the pendant belongs to a “female hoard”, which is one of the claims examined in this thesis.
    
    The phrase “which is one of the claims examined in this thesis” is called a non-restrictive or non-defining clause, because this clause does not add crucial information to the main clause. This type of clause is (usually) set off by a comma.
- who
  - Using who
    
    Use the pronoun who to refer to a human subject, and when citing other authors.
    
    The user, who is left with a difficult decision, must list all the variables.
    
    This concept is explained in more detail by Greenbaum & Quirk, who distinguish coordination from subordination (1990:262).
- whom
  - The Distribution of Human Capital in Sweden, ch. 4
  - Using whom
    
    The relative pronoun “who” is used, instead of “that” or “which”, when the pronoun refers to a human. However, if the pronoun is the object, then the form whom (the object form of “who”) is also grammatically correct. Using whom is considered formal and in most texts “who” is to be preferred. However, after a preposition, whom should always be used. In the two following examples “for” and “by” are prepositions.
    
    Teachers for whom these textbooks were written were critical of the content.
    
    A lengthy discussion of what would be considered ungrammatical, and by whom, is beyond the scope of this thesis.
    
    [In spoken and less formal English, whom is rarely used; instead, sentences are constructed slightly differently.
    
    Teachers who these textbooks were written for were critical of the content.
    
    A lengthy discussion of who would consider these constructions ungrammatical is beyond the scope of this thesis.]
- whose
  - The Distribution of Human Capital in Sweden, ch. 3
  - The Distribution of Human Capital in Sweden, ch. 4
  - Using whose
    
    A form of the relative pronoun “who” is used, instead of “that” or “which”, when the pronoun refers to a human. When the clause introduces something owned by a human, the possessive pronoun whose is used.
    
    People whose car does not meet the standard could decide to use other means of transportation.

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Relative pronouns

Using that

Using when

Using where

Using which

Using who

Using whom

Using whose