Relative Pronouns

The relative pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to nouns or other

pronouns (The student who studies hardest usually does the best.). The word who connects or
relates the subject, student, to the verb within the dependent clause (studies). Choosing correctly
between which and that and between who and whom leads to what are probably the most
Frequently Asked Questions about English grammar. For help with which/that, refer to
the Notorious Confusables article on those words (including the hyperlink to Michael Quinion's
article on this usage and the links to relevant quizzes). Generally, we use "which" to introduce
clauses that are parenthetical in nature (i.e., that can be removed from the sentence without
changing the essential meaning of the sentence). For that reason, a "which clause" is often set off
with a comma or a pair of commas. "That clauses," on the other hand, are usually deemed
indispensable for the meaning of a sentence and are not set off with commas. The
pronoun which refers to things; who (and its forms) refers to people; that usually refers to things,
but it can also refer to people in a general kind of way. For help with who/whom refer to the
section onConsistency. We also recommend that you take the quizzes on the use
of who and whom at the end of that section.

The expanded form of the relative pronouns — whoever, whomever, whatever — are known
as indefinite relative pronouns. A couple of sample sentences should suffice to demonstrate
why they are called "indefinite":

 The coach will select whomever he pleases.

 He seemed to say whatever came to mind.
 Whoever crosses this line first will win the race.

What is often an indefinite relative pronoun:

 She will tell you what you need to know.

Indefinite Pronouns
The indefinite pronouns (everybody/anybody/somebody/all/each/every/some/none/one) do
not substitute for specific nouns but function themselves as nouns (Everyone is wondering
if any is left.)

One of the chief difficulties we have with the indefinite pronouns lies in the fact that
"everybody" feels as though it refers to more than one person, but it takes a singular verb.
(Everybody is accounted for.) If you think of this word as meaning "every single body," the
confusion usually disappears. The indefinite pronoun none can be either singular or plural,
depending on its context. None is nearly always plural (meaning "not any") except when
something else in the sentence makes us regard it as a singular (meaning "not one"), as in "None
of the food is fresh." Some can be singular or plural depending on whether it refers to something
countable or noncountable. Refer to the section on Pronoun Consistency for help on
determining the number of the indefinite pronouns (and the number [singular/plural] of the verbs
that accompany them). There is a separate section on the uses of the pronoun one.

There are other indefinite pronouns, words that double as Determiners:

enough, few, fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, every, each, any,
either, neither, none, some

 Few will be chosen; fewer will finish.

 Little is expected.

See the section on Pronoun Consistency for help in determining the number

(singular/plural) characteristics of these pronouns.

Intensive Pronouns
The intensive pronouns (such as myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves) consist of
a personal pronoun plus self or selves and emphasize a noun. (I myself don't know the answer.) It
is possible (but rather unusual) for an intensive pronoun to precede the noun it refers to. (Myself,
I don't believe a word he says.)

Reflexive Pronouns
The reflexive pronouns (which have the same forms as the intensive pronouns) indicate that
the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb. (Students who cheat on this quiz are
only hurtingthemselves. You paid yourself a million dollars? She encouraged herself to do well.)
What this means is that whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a sentence there must be a
person to whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence "Please hand that book
to myself" would be incorrect because there is no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect
to (and we would use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as "I gave that book to myself
for Christmas" might be silly, but it would be correct.