This is it which I bought yesterday.

Question

Hi teachers.Today I am going to ask about antecedents of relative pronouns.I once heard (from my English teacher) that proun "it" cannot be an antecedent. Is it true? 1. She lost it which I had bought for her. Then is #1 ungrammatical? How about "this" and "them"?2. I like this which you recommended. 3. Show it to them who will attend the party. 4. Show it to those who will attend the party. Seriously, I am pretty confused of what can be antecedents and what cannot. I get great help from you native speakers here, as an Korean ESL teacher in Korea. Many many thanks teachers

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Michelle Cha1. She lost it which I had bought for her.

Boy, I wish this was all cut and dried, but it's not. That sentence is wrong, but it is not ungrammatical, strictly speaking. It just sounds extremely antiquated. Nobody would ever say or write that now, and it is because of what you say.

Michelle ChaI like this which you recommended.

Your "this which" is again not ungrammatical, but it is not natural because it sounds so old-fashioned that it is impossible today. It is a good definition of "what", which is the natural choice here.

Michelle ChaShow it to them who will attend the party.

Once again, grammatical but odd.

Michelle ChaShow it to those who will attend the party.

This is the natural way to put number 3.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Michelle ChaI once heard (from my English teacher) that proun "it" cannot be an antecedent. Is it true?

It is a pronoun. In some contexts, pronouns have antecedents. The antecedents of pronouns are nouns.
Consider two dialogs.

1.

A: Do you like my new dress? I bought it yesterday.
B: Oh, I love the color. And it fits you nicely.

Dress is the antecedent of "it". B knows what A is taking about. B can give a good answer.

2.

A: Do you like it? I bought it yesterday.
B: ??????

B has no idea what A bought!

Michelle Cha1. She lost it which I had bought for her.

It is like the second conversation, but in addition, it is ungrammatical. You can use the pronoun "that"

She lost that which I had bought for her.

But it (The sentence) is not clear. And this is very old fashioned, almost archaic.

Better is a content clause with "what." This is acceptable today.

She lost what I had bought for her.

Even more commonplace:

She loses everything I buy for her.

Michelle Cha2. I like this which you recommended.

No. that is unnatural. "One" is a good pronoun to use.

I like the one which you recommended.

Michelle Cha3. Show it to them who will attend the party.

Ungrammatical use of "them" because of the relative clause.

These are ok:

Show it to them.  I mean the people standing over there. 
 Show it to those / the ones who will attend the party.

CalifJim · Answer

She lost what I bought (for) her.
I like what you recommended. / I like the one (that) you recommended.
Show it to those who will attend the party. / Show it to the people who will attend the party.

CJ

This is it which I bought yesterday.

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