Question

Identify the implied antecedent of the relative pronoun in the following sentences-
Who wins the battle may lose the war.
a) He
b) Who
c) Wins
d) Lose

Answer 1

Hint: When an antecedent is implied, instead of stating explicitly, the reader has to guess the meaning of the sentence.

Complete answer:
 A relative pronoun functions as a pronoun as well as a conjunction. As a pronoun, it refers to a noun which is common between two sentences, whereas, as a conjunction, it combines those sentences as one. In the given question, we are asked to identify the implied antecedents of the relative pronoun given in the sentence. The antecedent is the noun that the relative pronoun refers to, or relates to the rest of the sentence.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
Option ‘a’ is He. In the given option, ‘he' is an antecedent because when placed in the sentence ‘He who wins the battle may lose the war'. Here, we are referring to ‘who' as ‘he’.
Option ‘b’ is Who. It is the relative pronoun because it refers to the antecedent and not the antecedent itself. So, we will eliminate this option straight away.
Option ‘c’ is Wins. It is a verb that performs a given task or any action ‘to be victorious’. It cannot be an antecedent as, if placed in the sentence given sentence, it cannot replace ‘w. So, we will eliminate this option as well.
Option ‘d’ is Lose. It is also a verb which means to be unsuccessful in a particular field or area of work. So this is also an incorrect option.
As we have analyzed all the given options, we can easily figure out the correct answer. Here, the employed antecedents of the relative pronoun is ‘he’. Hence, option ‘a’ is the correct option.

Note:
In some cases, when sentences are spoken and a general sense, the antecedents can be omitted and is only implied in the written sentence.