Question

Fill in the blank with the most suitable pronoun:

I do not want you to study from the same books _____ others have been using.

• A. that
• B. this
• C. who
• D. whom

Answer 1

The correct option is A that

A relative pronoun is a pronoun (who, whose, that, what, which, etc.) that performs as a pronoun as well as a conjunction. When two clauses are combined and there is a common noun between them, repetition of the noun must be avoided. Hence the relative pronoun is used to refer to that noun, as well as join the clauses as one. For example, 'They caught the girl. The girl stole some bread.' Here the girl is repeated in both sentences, when combined, 'the girl' is replaced by 'who' in the second clause: They caught the girl who stole some bread. Here, 'who' refers to the girl. Hence 'who' is a relative pronoun and 'the girl' is called the antecedent. The antecedent is a word, a phrase or a clause that the relative pronoun replaces.
In the given sentence, 'books' is the antecedent (the antecedent is directly followed by the relative pronoun that replaces it).
From the options, 'that' is the most suitable relative pronoun; it relates the noun 'books' to the rest of the sentence: others have been using. Hence option A is correct.
Option B is incorrect because 'this' is not a relative pronoun; it is a pronoun that refers to a thing or a person, but does not function as a conjunction.
'Who' and 'whom' are relative pronouns that refers to a person, or people. These pronouns do not refer to things (books). Hence options C and D are incorrect.