This substantive is called the antecedent of the relative.Įum nihil dēlectābat quod fās esset. (Mil. A relative pronoun indicates a relation between its own clause and some substantive. But the subordinating and the later connective force were acquired by quī at such an early period that the steps of the process cannot now be traced.ģ04. The subordinating force did not belong to the relative originally, but was developed from an interrogative or indefinite meaning specialized by use. When the antecedent is in a different sentence, the relative is often equivalent to a demonstrative with a conjunction.

Titus Balventius, who the year before had been a centurion of the first rank Balventius, quī superiōre annō prīmum pīlum dūxerat (id. As nouns (or adjectives) in their own clause.Thus relatives serve two uses at the same time: The antecedent is in Latin very frequently (rarely in English) found in the relative clause, but more commonly in the antecedent clause. He began to march into those PLACES in which PLACES he heard the Germans were.īut one of these nouns is commonly omitted. Iter in ea loca facere coepit quibus in locīs esse Germānōs audiēbat. In the fullest construction the antecedent is expressed in both clauses, with more commonly a corresponding demonstrative to which the relative refers. A relative pronoun agrees with some word expressed or implied either in its own clause, or (often) in the antecedent (demonstrative) clause.

What is a relative pronoun