Download Adjective Clauses

Adjective Clauses
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Explanation
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and
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Compiled and Edited by
Marwa El Deeb
What is an Adjective?
• An Adjective describes a noun.
Remember nouns can either be subjects, objects or objects of
prepositions.
Which words are
adjectives?
unkind
unkind
ki
ki d
d
fast
fast
⌧ value
value
careless
careless
⌧ silently
silently
old
old
What is an Adjective Clause?
• An Adjective clause is a dependent clause
(dependent word + subject and verb) that
describes a noun.
• You can imagine that an adjective clause is taking
two sentences about the same noun and making
them into one sentence.
Examples:
Examples:
TheRoute
postcard
66 isshows
a longaroad.
beautiful vista of the Grecian
coastline
coastline.
This road goes from Chicago to California.
I bought the postcard.
Route 66 is a long
g road that goes
g
from Chicago
g to
TheCalifornia.
postcard which I bought shows a beautiful vista of the
Grecian coastline.
Subject Relative Pronouns
• We use relative pronouns to create dependent
clauses.
• The relative p
pronoun replaces
p
the word in common
between the two sentences.
• Sometimes, the relative pronoun will be the subject
of the dependent clause.
clause
Examples:
Subject Relative Pronouns
People:
Route 66 is a long
road. Who or That
Things
or Chicago
Animals: Which
or That
This road goes
from
to California.
Whose
Route 66 is a long
gPossessive:
road that g
goes
from Chicago
g to
California.
Object Relative Pronouns
• SSometimes,
ti
th
the relative
l ti pronoun will
ill replace
l
the object in the dependent clause or the
object of a preposition.
• To connect this type of clause, the relative
pronoun must be moved to the front of the
clause – in front of the subject.
Examples:
Object Relative Pronouns
Who
or That
The postcardPeople:
shows aWhom,
beautiful
vista
of the Grecian
coastline
coastline.
Things or Animals: Which or That
I bought the postcard.
Possessive: Whose
The postcard which I bought shows a beautiful vista of the
Grecian coastline.
Things to Remember
• The relative pronoun replaces the noun – don
don’tt use
it and the noun in the dependent clause.
– Example:
• The
Th postcard
t
d is
i pretty.
tt I bought
b
ht the
th postcard.
t
d
Incorrect: The postcard which I bought the
postcard is p
p
pretty.
y
Correct: The postcard which I bought is pretty.
• The relative pronoun must be next to the word it
describes.
describes
– Example:
• Incorrect: The sharks opened their mouths
while they swam by the boat which were full
of sharp teeth.
• Correct: The sharks opened their mouths
which were full of sharp teeth while they swam
by the boat.
Things to Remember
• Formal written English: In formal
formal, academic English
in adjective clauses with object relative pronouns,
for people, we use whom. In adjective clauses with
an object
bj t off a preposition,
iti
b
bring
i
th
the preposition
iti
forward and use whom or which.
– Example: Jack London, whom I admire, wrote a
lot of short stories.
• Rather than: Jack London
London, who I admire
admire,
wrote a lot of short stories.
– Example: The presidency is the position to which
many politicians aspire.
• Rather than: The presidency is the position that
many politicians aspire to.
Things to Remember
• Y
You mustt understand
d t d whether
h th or nott the
th
dependent clause is essential information or
extra information in the understanding of
the noun. This impacts the meaning and the
punctuation.
• Essential clauses are also called identifying
or restrictive. We DO NOT use commas with
these clauses.
clauses
• Extra clauses are also called non-identifying
or non
non-restrictive.
restrictive. WE MUST use commas
with these clauses. We cannot use the
relative pronoun that.
Things to Remember
• Can you understand a difference between these two
sentences?
– My
y sister, who lives in Bel Air, has three children.
– My sister who lives in Bel Air has three children.
• In which sentence is it clear that I have more
than one sister?
•What about between these two sentences?
•He looked in the refrigerator, and he threw away the food
which was rotten.
•He looked in the refrigerator, and he threw away the food,
which was rotten.
In which sentence is all of the food in the refrigerator
rotten?
Identifying vs
vs. Non-Identifying
• Think about if a listener or
reader would be able to
identify the noun without
th adjective
the
dj ti clause.
l
Example:
He is the man who works at the grocery store.
This is essential (identifying) information.
information Think about it as
two sentences.
He is a man.
man
He works at the grocery store.
With t the
Without
th second
d sentence,
t
you couldn’t
ld ’t identify
id tif him.
hi
Notice that a become the because the noun changes from indefinite to definite
because of the identification.
Identifying vs
vs. Non-Identifying
• Think about if a listener or
reader would be able to
identify the noun without
th adjective
the
dj ti clause.
l
Example:
Maria, who works as a physician’s assistant, enjoys
h job.
her
j b
This is extra (non-identifying) information. Think about it as two
sentences.
Maria enjoys her job.
Maria works as a physician
physician’ss assistant.
assistant
You know her name from the first sentence. This is enough to identify her.