Is Pronoun A Conjunction:9 Important Facts You Should Know

In this article we will be finding answer to the question ‘Is pronoun a conjunction?’. With the help of various examples and explanations, we will get to know is pronoun a conjunction.

A pronoun is nothing but a word that is used as a replacement or as a substitute for the noun or the noun phrase in a sentence. A conjunction in simple terms is a word that connects two or more sentences into a single sentence. Can pronouns do the work of a conjunction as well? Can it replace a noun and also connect sentences?

Go through the following sentences to check if a pronoun can be a conjunction.

• 1. This is Ram who moved to New York last month.
• 2. I love the bike that my dad gifted me for my birthday.
• 3. Sonam is the girl whom I was talking about last night.
• 4. Here is the book which you searched for.
• 5. My grandmother, who is eight years old, still does all her work.

The words that are italicized in the above sentences are pronouns that also function as conjunctions. They perform the dual work of connecting sentences and also taking the place of a noun or noun phrase.

Can pronouns be conjunction?

Yes, pronouns can also at times perform the role of a conjunction of connecting sentences based on where they occur in a sentence. Such pronouns are referred to as conjunctive pronouns.

Example: Ruhi met Subha who had just returned from USA.

‘Who’ is the pronoun in this sentence as it refers to or replaces the noun ‘Subha’. However, ‘who’ can also be regarded here as a conjunction (conjunctive pronoun) as it connects the relative clause to the main clause making it into one single sentence.  The two separate sentences that ‘Who’ connects are  – ‘Ruhi met Subha’ and ‘Subha had just returned from USA’.

How can a pronoun be a conjunction?

A pronoun can also do the function of a conjunction as some pronouns help in connecting two clauses into a single sentence apart from just taking the place of a noun or a noun phrase.

Example: This is the toy that I have been searching for.

‘That’ is the pronoun in this sentence, which does the role of both a pronoun and a conjunction as it replaces the noun ‘toy’ and also join two sentences – ‘This is the toy’ and ‘I have been searching for the toy’.

When can a pronoun be a conjunction?

A pronoun can do the work of a conjunction only when it helps in linking two sentences into one apart from replacing the noun and noun phrase in the sentence.

Example: Which do you choose?

In this sentence ‘which’ is the pronoun as it replaces the noun or noun phrase. The answer we get for this answer will be an object (a noun). Since this pronoun is used for the purpose of interrogation it is called an interrogative pronoun. But here, the interrogative pronoun, ‘which’ does not connect or join two sentences, hence it does not perform the role of a conjunction in this sentence.

Example: We went to my school which is celebrating its silver jubilee this year.

In this sentence, ‘which’ is a pronoun as it takes the place of the noun ‘my school’. But apart from that, ‘which’ also does the work of a conjunction by connecting two sentences into one single sentence. The two sentences ‘which’ is connecting are ‘We went to my school and ‘My school is celebrating its silver jubilee this year’. Thus here in this sentence, ‘which’ comes across as a conjunctive pronoun that does the dual work of both a pronoun and a conjunction.

List of conjunction pronouns

‘Who’, ‘that’, ‘Which’ and ‘whom’ can be regarded as conjunction pronouns.

Example: Rahul is the boy whom we met at party.

‘Whom’ is the conjunction pronoun in this sentence, as it does the work of both a pronoun and a conjunction by replacing the noun ‘Rahul’ and also joining two sentences – ‘Rahul is the boy’ and ‘We met Rahul at party’.

Conjunction pronoun examples

The following are the example sentences that have conjunction pronouns in them.

• 1. Shreya wore the watch that I gifted on her birthday.
• 2. This is the new saree which my mother bought me last week.
• 3. Riha who is my best friend is the class leader.
• 4. Subhatra is the team leader whom we were talking about.
• 5. Tommy is our dog which is living with us for five years now.

Conjunction pronoun examples with detailed explanation

Now let us identify the conjunction pronoun in each sentence, understand and analyze them in detail.

1. Shreya wore the watch that I gifted on her birthday.

‘That’ is the conjunction pronoun in this sentence, as it does the work of both a pronoun and a conjunction by replacing the noun ‘watch’ and also joining two sentences – ‘Shreya wore the watch’ and ‘I gifted the watch on her birthday’.

2. This is the new saree which my mother bought me last week.

‘Which’ is the conjunction pronoun in this sentence, as it does the work of both a pronoun and a conjunction. ‘Which’ replaces the noun ‘Rahul’ and also joins two sentences – ‘This is the new saree’ and ‘My mother bought me the saree last week’.

3. Riha who is my best friend is the class leader.

‘Who’ is the conjunction pronoun in this sentence, as it does the work of both a pronoun and a conjunction. ‘Who’ replaces the noun ‘Riha’ and also joins two sentences – ‘Riha is my best friend’ and ‘Riha is the class leader’.

4. Subhatra is the team leader whom we were talking about.

‘Whom’ is the conjunction pronoun in this sentence, as it does the work of both a pronoun and a conjunction by replacing the noun ‘Subhatra’ and also joining two sentences – ‘Subhatra is the team leader’ and ‘We were talking about Shubatra’.

5. Tommy is our dog which is living with us for five years now.

‘Which’ is the conjunction pronoun in this sentence, as it does the work of both a pronoun and a conjunction. ‘Which’ replaces the noun ‘Tommy’ and also joins two sentences – ‘Tommy is our dog’ and ‘Tommy is living with us for five years now’.

Can relative pronoun be conjunction?

Relative pronouns are not conjunctions but they also do perform the role of a conjunction, when they join the relative clause with the main clause apart from just substituting the noun or the noun phrase in a sentence.

Example: Rohan is the student who was on leave yesterday.

‘Who’ is the relative pronoun in this sentence, as it relates to the noun ‘Rohan’. ‘Who’ also does the work of a conjunction by connecting two sentences into one single sentence. The two sentences ‘who’ connects are ‘Rohan is the student’ and ‘Rohan was on leave yesterday’

Relative pronoun vs Conjunction

A conjunction is a word that does only the function of connecting two or more sentences into one.

Example: Though Raghu was ill, he attended the class test.

‘Though’ is the conjunction in this sentence. ‘Though’ here is solely used only to join two sentences – ‘Raghu was ill’ and ‘He attended the class test’.

A relative pronoun is a pronoun type that relates to the noun or the noun phrase that is preceding the relative clause. Thus, a relative pronoun substitutes for a noun or a phrase thereby also connecting the relative clause to the main clause. A relative pronoun not just acts a connecting device like conjunction but gives us additional information about the noun or the noun phrase.

Example: Shilpa who lives near my house is an entrepreneur.

Main clause – Shilpa is an entrepreneur

Relative Clause – who lives near my house

Relative pronoun – who

Here, relative pronoun ‘who’ replaces the noun ‘Shilpa’ and also acts as a connector to join the relative clause to the main clause by giving additional information about the noun.

Can interrogative pronoun be conjunction?

Interrogative pronouns do the function of a conjunction, when they replace the noun or noun phrase and when they connect the relative clause to main clause.

Example: This is the book which I read long back.

‘Which’ is the interrogative pronoun, but here it is not used for questioning, but is used to link the relative clause ‘which I read long back’ to the main clause ‘this is the book’. ‘Which’, here replaces the noun ‘book’.

Conclusion

Thus from this article we came to know that pronouns can do the work of conjunctions when they link the relative clause to the main clause. But unlike conjunctions, pronouns do more work as they replace the nouns and the noun phrases in the sentence apart from just joining two sentences.