Adjective Clauses

Explanation and Practice

 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

 fast

value
 value
 careless

silently
 silently
 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.
This road goes from Chicago to California.
I bought the postcard.
Route 66 is a long road that goes from Chicago
Thetopostcard
California.
which I bought shows a beautiful vista of
the Grecian coastline.
 Subject Relative
Pronouns
• We use relative pronouns to create dependent clauses.
• The relative pronoun replaces the word in common between the two sentences.
• Sometimes, the relative pronoun will be the subject of the dependent clause.

Examples: Subject Relative Pronouns

Route 66 is a long
People:
road.Who or That
This roadThings
goes from
or Animals:
ChicagoWhich
to California.
or That
Route 66 is a long
Possessive:
road thatWhose
goes from Chicago to
California.
Object Relative Pronouns
Sometimes, the relative pronoun will replace 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

The postcard
People:
showsWhom,
a beautiful
Who orvista
Thatof the Grecian
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’t use it and the noun in the dependent clause.
Example:
• The postcard is pretty. I bought the postcard.
– Incorrect: The postcard which I bought the postcard is pretty.
•
Correct: The postcard which I bought is pretty.
The relative pronoun must be next to the word it 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, academic English in adjective clauses with object relative pronouns, for people, we use whom. In adjective clauses with an object of a preposition, bring the
preposition forward and use whom or which.
•
Example: Jack London, whom I admire, wrote a lot of short stories.
Rather than: Jack London, who I 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
You must understand whether or not the 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.
• Extra clauses are also called non-identifying or non-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 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. Non-
Identifying
• Think about if a listener or
reader would be able to
identify the noun without
the adjective clause.

Example:
He is the man who works at the grocery store.
This is essential (identifying) information. Think about
it as two sentences.
He is a man.
He works at the grocery store.
Without the second sentence, you couldn’t identify him.
Notice that a become the because the noun changes from indefinite to definite
because of the identification.
 Identifying vs. Non-
Identifying
• Think about if a listener or
reader would be able to
identify the noun without
the adjective clause.

Example:
Maria, who works as a physician’s assistant,
enjoys her job.
This is extra (non-identifying) information. Think about it as two
sentences.

Maria enjoys her job.

Maria works as a physician’s assistant.
You know her name from the first sentence. This is enough to identify