Relative, Interrogative & Indefinite Pronouns: Sixth Grade English Grammar

Mastering relative, interrogative, and indefinite pronouns allows you to introduce subordinate clauses, formulate sharp investigative questions, and express quantities with precision.

Relative Pronouns: Connecting Dependent Clauses

A relative pronoun introduces an adjective (relative) clause, connecting descriptive information directly to an antecedent noun in the main clause. The primary relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and that.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                       RELATIVE PRONOUN SELECTION GUIDE                   |
+-------------------+--------------------+---------------------------------+
| Relative Pronoun  | Refers To          | Grammatical Role in Clause      |
+-------------------+--------------------+---------------------------------+
| who               | People             | Subject of relative clause      |
| whom              | People             | Object of relative clause       |
| whose             | People or Things   | Possessive modifier             |
| which             | Animals / Things   | Nonrestrictive (commas used)    |
| that              | Animals / Things   | Restrictive (no commas used)    |
+-------------------+--------------------+---------------------------------+

Who vs. Whom in Subordinate Clauses

Use "who" when the pronoun acts as the subject of the relative clause: "The botanist who discovered the orchid received an award." (Notice that "who" performed the discovering). Use "whom" when the pronoun acts as an object: "The botanist whom the committee honored gave a speech." (Notice that the committee performed the honoring, while "whom" received the honor).

Which vs. That: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Logic

Use "that" for restrictive clauses that provide essential identification without which the main sentence loses its specific meaning; restrictive clauses take no commas: "The telescope that sits on the summit gathers deep-space photons." Use "which" for nonrestrictive clauses that provide incidental, non-essential information; nonrestrictive clauses are always set off by commas: "The Keck telescope, which sits on the summit, gathers deep-space photons."

Interrogative Pronouns: Crafting Inquiries

Interrogative pronouns introduce direct or indirect questions. The five interrogative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, and what.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                       INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN FUNCTIONS                    |
|                                                                          |
|   [ WHO ]   ======> Subject Inquiry:   Who decoded the transmission?     |
|   [ WHOM ]  ======> Object Inquiry:    Whom did the commander dispatch?  |
|   [ WHOSE ] ======> Ownership Inquiry: Whose compass lies on the table?  |
|   [ WHICH ] ======> Choice Inquiry:    Which of the paths leads north?   |
|   [ WHAT ]  ======> General Inquiry:   What caused the barometric drop?  |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Distinguishing Interrogative Pronouns from Interrogative Adjectives

When an interrogative word stands alone as the subject or object of a sentence, it functions as an interrogative pronoun: "Which is your backpack?" However, when the word directly modifies a following noun, it functions as an interrogative adjective: "Which backpack is yours?" In the second sentence, "Which" modifies "backpack," altering its part of speech.

Indefinite Pronouns: Quantifying Without Exact Identity

An indefinite pronoun refers to a person, place, thing, or idea that is not specifically identified. Indefinite pronouns present critical subject-verb agreement challenges.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                       INDEFINITE PRONOUN CATEGORIES                      |
+-------------------+------------------------------------------------------+
| Singular          | another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either,   |
| (Always Singular) | everybody, everyone, everything, neither, nobody,    |
|                   | no one, nothing, one, somebody, someone, something   |
+-------------------+------------------------------------------------------+
| Plural            | both, few, fewer, many, others, several              |
| (Always Plural)   |                                                      |
+-------------------+------------------------------------------------------+
| Variable (SANAM)  | Some, Any, None, All, Most                           |
| (Depends on Prep) | Determined by the object of the preposition!         |
+-------------------+------------------------------------------------------+

The Singular Indefinite Pronoun Trap

Words ending in "-body," "-one," or "-thing"—along with "each," "either," and "neither"—are strictly singular in standard English. When they function as subjects, they require singular verbs: "Everyone has completed his or her assignment," and "Neither of the engines is functioning." Even though "everyone" feels like a crowd of people, grammatically it addresses the group member by member.

The SANAM Variable Pronouns

The acronym SANAM represents five indefinite pronouns whose number changes based on context: Some, Any, None, All, and Most. To determine whether a SANAM pronoun takes a singular or plural verb, examine the object of the preposition that immediately follows it. If the object is an uncountable mass noun, the verb is singular: "All of the glacier has melted." If the object is a countable plural noun, the verb is plural: "All of the glaciers have melted."

Exercises and Solutions

Exercise 1: Choosing Between Who and Whom. In each of the following sentences, select the correct relative or interrogative pronoun (who or whom) and provide a detailed grammatical explanation in a single paragraph: Sentence A: "The cartographer (who / whom) drew this terrain map was remarkably meticulous." Sentence B: "To (who / whom) should we address the official expedition request?" Sentence C: "(Who / Whom) did the archaeologist select to lead the excavation team?"

Solution 1: In Sentence A, the correct pronoun is "who" because it functions as the grammatical subject of the verb "drew" within the relative clause. In Sentence B, the correct pronoun is "whom" because it functions as the object of the preposition "to"; prepositions strictly govern objective case pronouns. In Sentence C, the correct pronoun is "whom" because it functions as the direct object of the verb "select" (which can be proven by rearranging the interrogative sentence into an assertive statement: "The archaeologist did select him/whom").

Exercise 2: Indefinite Pronoun Subject-Verb Agreement. Choose the correct verb form in the following sentences and explain the grammatical rule governing each selection in a cohesive paragraph: Sentence 1: "Each of the scientific instruments (requires / require) recalibration." Sentence 2: "Most of the river water (has / have) evaporated under the desert sun." Sentence 3: "Several of the ancient ruins (remains / remain) undiscovered."

Solution 2: In Sentence 1, the singular verb "requires" is correct because the subject is the singular indefinite pronoun "Each"; the intervening prepositional phrase "of the scientific instruments" does not alter the singular nature of the subject. In Sentence 2, the singular verb "has" is correct because the subject is the variable SANAM pronoun "Most," which is governed by the uncountable mass noun "water" in the prepositional phrase "of the river water." In Sentence 3, the plural verb "remain" is correct because "Several" belongs to the category of indefinite pronouns that are always plural in standard English.