Download Adjective, Adverb, & Noun Clauses

Adjective, Adverb, & Noun
Clauses
Why are they important?
They enhance writing; thus, it’s not so choppy. They
allow for better fluency when reading; hence, better
comprehension, and they break the monotony of simple
sentences.
Created by: Ms. Brinson 
Subordinate clauses are a group of words that have a subject
(noun/pronoun) AND predicate (verb) but does not convey a
complete thought.
ALL complex and compound-complex sentences have
subordinate clauses.
Subordinate clauses have specific names, thus they have specific
functions. Basically, a subordinate clause will always be a
subordinate clause, but we will be naming the subordinate clause
as either adjective clause, adverb clause, or noun clause.
Example: People are human beings, just like subordinate clauses are
groups of words, and just as people are male or female, subordinate
clauses are adjective clause, adverb clause, or noun clauses.
Sentence examples:
1. The desert is a place where most animals are
not able to work.
2. Since I lost my lunch money, I can’t eat
today.
3. Where many kids play is a place where
pedophiles will linger.
How do you know if you have the
complete adjective clause
• If the clause is inside of a set of commas, that
will be the completed clause.
• Include prepositional phrases in the completed
clause
• Stop the clause at the main verb of the sentence
• Stop the clause right before a comma, UNLESS
it a series. Ex, dog, cat, mouse, etc.
THESE ARE NOT ABSOLUTE, BUT ARE A
GREAT GUIDE TO FOLLOW
Adjective Clauses
• Relative pronouns introduce adjective clauses.
• There are 9 relative pronouns, but 7 are quite common.
• Most common Relative Pronouns:
who, whom, which, whomever, whose, what, that
-WHEN and WHERE can also be relative pronouns used to introduce
adjective clauses BUT are most often subordinators- IT DEPENDS
ON WHAT IT IS REFERRING TO.-
If you take the adjective clause out of your
sentence, your sentence will still be left with a
main clause.
Examples: 1. Allison likes pathways where she can see
other people in case of an emergency.
Where can she see other people in an emergency?
2. Many people are often found where they should not be.
Where should they not be? – Q can’t be answered!
What happens when people are where they should not be?
An adjective clause describes/modifies a noun
or pronoun.
Modifies - means it refers to.
Just as an adjective modifies a noun or pronoun,
an adjective clause acts in the same way, except it is a
group of words acting as an adjective would!
Example: 1. Thunderstorms, which are often quite
unpredictable, seem to arise when the weather
forecast least expects them.
What is often quite unpredictable? __________________
Yep, thunderstorms is the noun that the underlined
adjective clause modifies.
REMEMBER
• ALL sentences that have an adjective clause will
be..
Complex = mc + sc
OR
Compound-Complex = mc + mc + sc
How do we know this?
An adjective clause names a specific subordinate
clause (SC)
Adjective Clause Practice
Read each sentence, pick out the complete adjective
clause, CIRCLE the relative pronoun and write out the
noun or pronoun that your adjective clause modifies.
• (a) The man who looked pale was very sick.
• (b) He was sitting in the emergency room that
was very crowded.
• (c) The woman who you called will be here soon.
• (d) He lived in chambers which had once
belonged to his deceased partner.
Adverb Clauses
…quite similar to adjective clauses, EXCEPT they
modify/refer to a verb or verb phrase
• Adverb clauses are introduced by subordinators.
• There are 16 subordinators and you can find
them on pg 507 in your Writer’s Choice book.
• Very common subordinators are: although,
because, until, before, since, whenever, &
after
• When a subordinator/ adverb clause starts a
sentence, the clause is ALWAYS followed by a
comma- (as in this sentence )
How do you know what is the completed
Adverb Clause?
-It’s the same as the Adjective Clauses• If the clause is inside of a set of commas, that will be
the completed clause.
• Include prepositional phrases in the completed
clause
• Stop the clause at the main verb of the sentence
• Stop the clause right before a comma, UNLESS it a
series. Ex, dog, cat, mouse, etc.
• Lastly, IF you take the Adverb Clause out of the
sentence, the sentence will be left with a main
clause.
(a) If the clause is inside of a set of commas, that will be the
completed clause.
Example: I don’t know what I would have done, if the police
didn’t show up, with the flat tire I got on I-75 south.
(b) Include prepositional phrases in the completed clause.
Example: Many people don’t know how to cook well,
since they can buy meals in various types of stores
(c) Stop the clause right before a comma, UNLESS it a series.
Ex, dog, cat, mouse, etc.
Example: Mom said I could not have dessert
because I did not eat my broccoli, corn, or mashed potatoes.
Remember this!
• Direct Object – who or what receives the
action of the verb (verb must be an action
verb)
Ex. She kicked the ball hard.
∙ Indirect Object – to whom or for what the
action was done (verb must be an action
verb)
Ex. Her mother gave her a gift card to the mall.
• Object of the Preposition – the noun or
pronoun that the preposition refers to.
Ex. She ran down the hill and almost fell.
Noun Clauses
• Noun clause - a subordinate clause used
as a noun
• Subordinate clause – has a
subj/predicate but does NOT convey a
complete thought.
• A noun clause acts just like a one word
noun, thus it can be the subject of your
sentence, the direct object, the indirect
object, the predicate noun, OR the object
of the preposition.
Words that introduce noun clauses
• Noun clauses can be introduced by words that
are also called subordinators AND relative
pronouns (this can get tricky)
Words in green- introduce noun clauses ONLY
Words in blue – introduce noun & adj clauses
Words in black – introduce noun & adv clauses
How, however, if, that, what, whatever, when,
where, whether, which, whichever, who, whom,
whoever, whomever, whose, & why
Determining the function of your noun
clause
• The key to determining if a clause is a noun
clause is to first learn and be able to recognize
when you see a word that introduces a noun
clause
• Secondly, find out where the clause is located
in your sentence.
• If the clause comes right after a preposition,
then it is a noun clause acting as the object of
the preposition.
• If it comes at the beginning of the sentence
AND before the acting verb of the sentence is
the subject of the sentence.
Noun clause functions continued…
• If the clause comes after the main action verb
in the sentence it will be direct object or
indirect object.
• Lastly, discovering if a clause is predicate
noun or not is the most difficult. The key is to
rule out the other possibilities for noun
clauses and if the main verb in the sentence
is a linking verb, then the noun clause is
probably acting as a predicate noun. – Be
sure to check and make sure it refers back to
the subject.