Omission of Relative Pronoun

Omission of Relative Pronoun :

The Relative Pronoun, provided it would be in the Accusative Case, is often omitted.

1. I am monarch of all (that) I survey.
2. This is the house (that) we lived in.
3. The girl (whom) you teach is very clever.
4. Have you seen the boy (whom) I sent to you?
5. Few and short were the prayers (which) we said. (Wolfe)

If the Relative is in the Nominative case, it cannot be omitted.

Thus we can say….I employed the man who came yesterday.
But we cannot say….I employed the man came yesterday.

Note : This is only true when it is the subject. Even a nominative pronoun may be omitted if it is a complement.

He is not the man he was before his illness.

Note : Even a relative pronoun used as a subject is omitted in such a sentence as the following.

The person we thought was guilty turned out to be innocent.

If a relative were inserted it would have to be who, not whom. It is the subject of was guilty, the sentence is a combination of the two statements.

The person turned out to be innocent. We thought he was guilty.

The explanation of the omission is perhaps that the pronoun is felt (wrongly) to be the object of thought, so that there is a tendency to use whom.

1. We love those people who are kind to us.
2. The pen whose point was broken has been mended.
3. The ground which we dig will bear a fine crop.
4. That is the man whom we saw yesterday.
5. Is this a dagger which I see before me?
6. We left the house in which we had lived so long.
7. He lost the box of clothes which I brought.
8. A child whose parents are dead is an orphan.

The following pairs of sentences can be joined into single sentences by putting a Relative Pronoun in the place of the Personal Pronoun or Possessive Adjective.

This is the house. Jack built it.
This is the house which Jack built.

This book is a good one. I read it.
This book, which I read, is a good one.

This is the man. I read his book.
This is the man whose book I read.

The boy has come. He lost his hat.
The boy, who lost his hat, has come.

The girl has come. You were looking for her.
The girl, whom you were looking for, has come.

These are the trees. Their leaves have fallen.
These are the trees whose leaves have fallen.

You built this house. I live in it.
I live in a house which you built.

These men have fled. The ox was stolen by them.
These men, who stole the ox, have fled.

Look at those boys. We read in class with them.
Look at those boys with whom we read in class.

The following sentences have Relative Pronoun.

1. The box which I bought was soon lost by him.
2. Heaven helps those who help themselves.
3. The man who I met today was an old friend.
4. These are the only things that I was looking for.
5. There are the boys whose parents are dead.
6. This is the book which I won as a prize.
7. Listen to what he says.
8. Do the same as do.
9. It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good.
10. Such men as they are dangerous.

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