Download ON TARGET 1 : UNIT 9

IN CHARGE 1 : UNIT 7 (pp. 1-7)
GRAMMAR TARGETS
1. Adjective Clauses
2. Identifying & Non-Identifying Adjective Clauses
3. Adjective Clauses with Whose
* See also: Advanced Grammar in Use, pp. 140-149.
1. ADJECTIVE CLAUSES
1.1. Revising Adjective Clauses
Notes:
1. In most grammar books adjective clauses are called
relative clauses.
2. The discussion and examples in this sub-section are adapted
from EL111 Online ( Grammar Notes : On Target 1 : Unit 9)
Let us begin by considering the following examples from English
Structure II (by Lewis Mukattash, al-Quds Open University, 1996:
p. 191):
(1)
a. A [person] who reads the news is a newsreader.
b. A novelist is a [person] who writes novels.
c. A killer disease is a [disease] which kills people
and animals.
d. A museum is a [building] in which objects
illustrating art, history, science, etc. are
displayed.
As you can see from the examples in (1) above, a relative clause
serves to define the noun it modifies. Without it, the meaning of
the sentence will be abrupt and odd: cf.
(2)
a. ? A person is a newsreader.
b. ? A novelist is a person.
In addition to its use in defining words/concepts/ideas, etc., a
relative clause may be used to describe how things (objects) are
made , the purpose they serve , or the functions they perform:
cf.
1
(3)
a. A saw is [a tool] that has a blade with sharp teeth
along one edge.
b. A drill is [a tool or machine] that is used for
making holes.
c. A tool-box is [a metal or plastic box] which
contains general tools that you need at home.
Now consider the following examples which illustrate another use of
relative clauses:
(4)
a.
[Drivers] who don't care for the safety of the
public should be punished.
b.
[A
person]
who
cannot
be
kind
understanding should not become a doctor.
and
c.
The university administration has decided to sack [all
students] who
were caught cheating in the
final exam.
The relative clauses in (4) above are, as you can see, essential to
the sentences within which they are contained. Without them, the
examples in (4) will be odd and will make little sense. Notice the
oddity of the following examples:
(5)
a.
? Drivers should be punished.
b.
? A person should not become a doctor.
c. ? The university administration has decided to sack
all students.
NOTE: An adjective clause is called a relative clause because it is
introduced by a relative pronoun which relates the information in
the clause to the noun which the clause defines or describes.
1.2. Relative Pronouns as Subjects
Like other pronouns, the relative pronoun may be the subject or the
object in the adjective clause.
The following examples illustrate the use of the relative pronoun as
subject IN THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE:
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NOUN
DESCRIBED/
ADJECTIVE CLAUSE
S
MODIFIED
Predicate
1. I know
a man
who
speaks five languages.
2.I cannot respect
a researcher
who
plagiarizes.
Consider further the following examples used in a different context:
NOUN
A person
S
who
Drivers
who
1.3.
CLAUSE
Predicate
deceives his own people
don't care for the safety
of the public
is not worthy of respect.
should be punished.
Relative Pronouns as Objects
The relative pronoun in the examples cited below functions as an
object (O) [IN THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE].
MODIFIED
The man
CLAUSE
S –V –
O
A. You met the man. is a linguist.
BECOMES:
The man
B.
whom
O
you
S
met
V
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is a linguist.
NOTE
If the relative pronoun functions as an object in the adjective
clause, it can be left out: e.g.
a. The man [whom you met yesterday] is a linguist.
b. The man [------ you met yesterday] is a linguist.
2. IDENTIFYING & NON-IDENTIFYING ADJECTIVE CLAUSE
2.1. Identifying Adjective Clauses (IAC);
All the adjectives clauses in the examples in Section 1 above are
IDENTIFYING.
An IDENTIFYING Adjective Clause (IAC) defines, identifies,
and describes a preceding (antecedent) noun, commonly known as
the head noun (HN), and is , as pointed about above, essential
for meaning. The sentence in which it is contained would be odd
and –quite often- nonsensical if the identifying clause is deleted .
This can be clearly seen in the following pairs of examples from
Section 1 above which we repeat here for convenience .
NOTE: The head noun is placed between square brackets


[Drivers] who don't care for the safety of the public
should be punished.
?? [Drivers] should be punished.


A novelist is a [person] who writes novels.
?? A novelist is a [person].
2.2. Non-Identifying Adjective Clauses (NIAC)
In addition to being IDENTIFYING, Adjective clauses can be also
NON-IDENTIFYING.
A NON-IDENTIFYING Adjective Clause (NIAC) adds additional
information about the head noun that precedes it but it does not
identify or define it.
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Let us begin our discussion of the NIAC by comparing the first and
second sentence in the following pair, which exemplify the use of
the IAC and the NIAC respectively:
1. I have two brothers who study linguistics. (Identifying)
2. I have two brothers, who study linguistics.
(Non-Identifying)
Apart from superficial difference in punctuation, the two sentences
look the same in print. However, if we reflect for a moment on the
meaning of the two sentences, we realize the following:


The second sentence tells us that the speaker has two brothers
only and that the two brothers study linguistics, whereas the
first sentence conveys quite different information. The first
sentence tells us that the speaker has more than two brothers
but the two brothers whom he is speaking about are those
identified/defined by the adjective clause (i.e.
who study
linguistics).
Out of context, the first sentence sounds abrupt. The listener
expects the speaker to continue and say, for instance, :
3. I have two brothers who study linguistics and one who is a
doctor.

Sentence (2) seems quite simply to be an answer to the
question:
4. How many brothers do you have?
The listener expects, and is primarily interested in, the information
carried by the main clause (i.e. I have two brothers), rather than
the information carried by the relative clause, which in this
particular case seems to be an omissible element. The speaker’s
intention , on the other hand, is not to convey the idea that his two
brothers study linguistics so much as to tell that he has two
brothers.

Sentence (1), on the other hand, cannot be understood as an
answer to the same kind of question. It is more likely to be an
answer to such a question as:
5. What kind/type of brothers do you have?
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The following are some more examples of NIACs from English
Structure II by Lewis Mugattash, Al-Quds Open University, 1998:
p.203:
6. I spoke to [ Dr Owen ], who had examined me before.
7. [Vitamins], which are essential for health, occur
naturally in many kinds of food and are also sold in the form
of pills.
8. Here is [John Smith], whom I mentioned the other day.
9. [Mary], who lived next door, called the police.
2.3.
Differences Between IACs & NIACs:
The examples cited above in this section and in Section 1 show
that, in addition to the difference in meaning discussed above,
NIACs differ from IACs in three distinct ways with regard to:
(i) Head Noun ,
(ii) Punctuation Marks preceding and/or following the adjective
clause, and
(iii) Relative Pronouns.
Below is a brief discussion of each of these differences.
(i) Head Noun (HN)
An IAC is not used to identify/define a HN that is a proper name
(e.g. John, Ali, Egypt, Damascus, The Nile,
The Arab Open
University etc.) because a proper noun has a unique reference
and requires no further identification or definition and thus it is
commonly followed by a NIAC as in examples 6-9 above.
(ii) Punctuation Marks:
Unlike an IAC, which immediately follows the HN it modifies, a
NIAC is separated from its HN by a comma. It is also followed by a
comma if it comes within the sentence . Punctuation marks are
shown in the examples cited in this section and in Section 1
above.
In addition, a NIAC may be marked off by means of dashes or
placed in parentheses: cf.

[Edward Said ] - who is a well-known Arab thinker - died
in America last month at the age of 67.
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
Edward Said (who is a great Arab thinker ) died in America
last month at the age of 67.
(iii) Relative Pronouns:
The relative pronoun that cannot be used in non-identifying
adjective clauses whereas it is frequently used in identifying relative
clauses with all types of head nouns ( i.e. human, animate,
inanimate) as in the following examples:


The [man] that made these doors no longer lives in this
city.
This is the new [book] that deals with pollution.
3. ADJECTIVE CLAUSES WITH WHOSE
Let us begin by considering the first and second sentences in the
following pair:
1. This is the lady.
2. You met the lady’s daughter yesterday.
Supposing we want to combine the preceding two sentences into
one . One way of doing that is by changing the second sentence into
an adjective/relative clause. In doing so, we have to choose/use an
appropriate pronoun. In this case, it should be the possessive
pronoun whose simply because the noun it replaces (i.e. the
lady’s) is in the possessive case:
3. This is the lady whose daughter you met yesterday.
Clauses introduced by whose can be identifying and non-identifying
as in the following two examples respectively ( from In Charge 1:
Teacher’s Guide, 2003:p.67):
4. [The person] whose book is on my desk is Linda.
( identifying)
5. [Jimi Hendrix] , whose guitar playing was
inspirational, was left-handed. (non-identifying)
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