< Adjective Clauses

Adjective Clauses: Adjective Clauses (#1)

Dennis Oliver

Using Adjective Clauses (#1)

Adjective clauses (relative clauses) are like "sentences
inside sentences." The "job" of adjective clauses is to
modify (describe, identify, make specific) the noun
phrases that they follow. In their full forms, adjective
clauses have several parts: a relative pronoun (or, in
some cases, another kind of connecting word), a subject,
and a predicate (a verb and, often, other types of
words which follow it).

In adjective clauses, the relative pronoun is a kind of
connecting word: it joins the information in the clause
to the noun phrase that it follows. Without the adjective
clause, the meaning of the modified noun phrase (and
of the sentence) is unclear and incomplete.

Examples (full forms):

I know a person who / that can help you.
I know a person who(m) / that you can help.
I know a person whose advice I can trust.
I know a person to whom I can refer you. /
I know a person who(m) / that I can refer you to.

I want a car that / which gets good gas mileage.
I can't afford the car that / which I really want.

______________________________

Types of Adjective Clauses

1.		"Subject Pattern" Clauses In this type of adjective clause, the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause. Subject pattern clauses can, however, modify both subjects and objects of sentences: The man who / that talked to us was very friendly. Do you know the man who / that talked to us?

2.		"Object Pattern" Clauses In this type of adjective clause, the relative pronoun is the object of the clause (but an object pattern clause can modify both subjects and objects of sentences): The people who(m) / that we met seemed very friendly. The people to whom / that we were speaking seemed very friendly. / The people who(m) / that we were speaking to seemed very friendly. I recently saw the people to whom / that we were talking. / I recently saw the people who(m) / that we were talking to.

3.		Clauses Showing Possession Here, the relative pronoun is possessive and is attached to another word in the adjective clause: The people whose names are called will work the first shift. Do you know the student whose brother won a gold medal in the Olympics?

Adjective Clauses: Adjective Clauses (#1)

SPONSORED LINKS