Learn English – By which, to which, at which, to whom: are these relative pronouns in adjective clauses

relative-pronounssyntactic-analysis

From experience, I know that:

which, who, where, why, whom, there, that

are relative pronouns but I wonder about the expressions:

'by which', 'to which', 'at which', 'to whom

Are these also relative pronouns in an adjective clause?

Example: this is the lab to which I go everyday.

Here I believe which is the only relative pronoun: not the combined words to which. I think that to is just a preposition modifying the relative pronoun meaning.

Best Answer

These pronouns relate as well as replace nouns. Being noun substitutes, they relate to the sentences in the like manner nouns become objects to prepositions in keeping with the demand of the sentences. Placing the prepositions before the relative pronouns or at the rear of the subirdinate clauses , is just matter of style. Peter Shor rightly mentions this is present day word- order. But since they are relative (anafore) to the antecedents (noun/ pronoun) they introduce relative clauses or phrases.

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