Connecting Relative

When a relative pronoun appears at the beginning of a sentence or immediately after a semi-colon, the relative is not strictly introducing a relative clause, but rather functions as the equivalent of the coordinating connector et and a personal pronoun in the same case, number and gender as that of the relative pronoun. Here are some equivalencies for connecting relatives:

	Qui = et is or et ei
	Quae = et ea
	Quo = et eo
	Quibus = et eis

Here are some examples of sentences that use the connecting relative:

	Apollo lyram Quinto tradidit; quo facto evanuit, "Apollo handed his lyre to Quintus; after doing this he vanished". The "quo facto" is an ablative absolute equivalent to "et eo facto".
	Antonius Cleopatram uxorem suam esse pronuntiavit. quae cum cognovissent senatores, statim bellum Cleopatrae indixerunt, "Antonius prclaimed that Cleopatra was his wife. When the senators learned this, they at once declared war on Cleopatra". The "quae" is the equivalent of et ea and so works inside of the cum clause.

Other Connection Topics:

----------------------------------

Main Index

General Principles
Sentence Structure
Morphology
Skeleton Types
Verbs
Case Usage
Adverbs
Infinitives
Gerunds
Gerundives
Dependent Clauses
Connection
The Book

----------------------------------

Related Topics

Lesson Chapter 47

Connection

Last Updated March 18, 2003

Questions, comments and corrections should be sent to Brian K. Harvey, Kent State University