Business English: A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig

time being in the objective case; as, John slipped and hurt _himself_. The _relative_ pronoun is so called because it relates or refers to another word, called its antecedent, to which it joins the clause that it introduces. The relative pronouns are _who_, _which_, _what_, _that_; and the compound relatives are _whoever_, _whosoever_, _whichever_, _whichsoever_, _whatever_, _whatsoever_. They are declined as follows: _Singular and Plural_ _Nom._ who which whoever whosoever _Poss._ whose of which whosever whosesoever _Obj._ whom which whomever whomsoever _That_, _what_, _whichever_, _whichsoever_, _whatever_, and _whatsoever_ are not declined. They have the same form in the nominative and objective cases, and are not used in the possessive case. _What_ is peculiar in that it never has an antecedent expressed, but itself stands for both antecedent and relative. It is called the _double relative_. Compare the following: I did not hear _the words that_ he said. I did not hear _that which_ he said. I did not hear _what_ he said. _That_ is called the restrictive relative, because it limits or restricts its antecedent to the meaning expressed in the clause introduced by _that_. A restrictive clause is one, therefore, that is needed to make the meaning of the sentence clear. Compare the following: _Non-restrictive_: John Brown, _who_ has no disease, needs no physician. _Restrictive_: He _that_ hath no disease needs no physician. Notice that a restrictive, or necessary, clause is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. _Who_ and _which_ are sometimes used with restrictive force; as,