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The English relative words are words in English used to mark a clause, noun phrase or preposition phrase as relative. The central relative words in English include who, whom, whose, which, why, and while, as shown in the following examples, each of which has the relative clause in bold:
- We should celebrate the things which we hold dear.
- I've been studying hard, which explains my good grades.
- I finally met Jordan, who had been away.
- That's the reason why it works.
Most also belong to the set of English interrogative words but function differently as relative words.
The subordinator that is widely regarded as a relative word, though one with different properties from the others.[a]
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