Adjective ClausesDIFFICULT PROBLEMS

When can we use

whom, who, and whose in

an adjective clause?

Who as a relative pronoun:

You can use who to begin

adjective clause that follows

and modifies a person or

people.

For example:

The teacher who teaches

this class has been at Laney

for almost 20 years.

I didn’t like the person who

spoke to me on the phone.

The difference between who

and whom as relative

pronouns:

We use whom in formal

English when the adjective

clause modifies an object of

a verb or preposition:

For example:

I didn’t like the man whom I

saw near to door to my

house.

(I saw the man—the man is

the object)

For example:

There are 27 students in this

class, a few of whom don’t

come regularly.

Informal: There are 27

students, but a few of them

don’t come regularly.

For example:

He is the man from whom I

bought the car.

Informal: He is the man I

bought the car from.

Whom is formal, and you

don’t hear it much in

conversation.

Whose is used when the

embedded sentence has a

possessive.

What is a possessive?

This is my computer.

Our class starts at 8:30.

Laney’s ESL department used

be be larger.

The population of Oakland (=

Oakland’s population) is

is smaller than the population of

San Francisco.

Examples of relative pronoun

whose:

She is a teacher whose classes

are always difficult.

Main sentence: She is a teacher

Embedded sentence: Her

classes are always difficult.

Who, whom and whose can all

be simple question words:

Who is that?

Whom were you talking to?

(formal—in conversation,

Who were you talking to?

Whose computer is that?

Examples of relative pronoun

whose:

(Whose as a relative pronoun) can

refer to a thing as well as person.

Oakland is a city whose population

is growing.

Main sentence: Oakland is a city.

Embedded sentence: Oakland’s

population is growing.

WHO as a relative pronoun: Student

examples

Sam is a student who is learning

English at Laney College.

The girl who is wearing a red coat is

May.

My friend, who likes to dance, is

young.

Jun, who is a hard worker, lived in a

small town.

WHO as a relative pronoun: Student

examples

The man who is standing at the

corner is a movie star.

The woman who is wearing a blue

jacket is from China.

Mary and Gary, who have been

married for two years, are very

happy together.

WHOM as a relative pronoun:

Student examples

She is the kind of person whom

others consider shy.

My brother, with whom I spend a lot

of time, is an introvert.

Whom was my sister talking with?

WHOSE as a relative pronoun:

Student examples

He is a student whose father is a

teacher.

Yesterday I met Tom, whose wife is

from my hometown.

He is a shallow thinker whose

opinions aren’t worth much.

WHOSE as a relative pronoun:

Student examples

An introvert is a person whose

energies are activated by being

alone.

My favorite brother, whose hair is

the same color as mine, studies at

the same college I do.

WHOM as a relative pronoun:

Student examples

The lady whom I spoke with is the

company manager.

She is my writing classmate to

whom I was talking.

When can we use who or

that in an adjective clause?

Who and that are usually

interchangeable in adjective

clauses (= it often doesn’t

matter which one you use.)

For example:

The man who/that is standing at

the corner is a movie star.

The woman who/that is wearing

a blue jacket is from China.

What’s the difference

between an identifying and

non-identifying adjective

clause?

A non-identifying adjective

clause has commas.

An identifying adjective

clause has no commas.

Why do we use adjective

clauses?

There are two possible

reasons.

Sometimes the adjective

clause gives extra

information about the noun it

modifies. Is is a non-

identifying adjective

clause, and it has commas.

For example:

My mother, who has never

worked in a restaurant, does

not give very good tips.

My youngest sister, who

was a waitress when she

was in college, is a

generous tipper.

Sometimes we use and

adjective clause to identify

what or whom we are talking

about. This is an identifying

clause, and it has no

commas.

For example:

The students who were

absent last week need to

talk to me.

Community colleges that are

located in large urban areas

usually have ESL

departments.

Sometimes an adjective

clause can modify a whole

situation:

I have three sisters and two

brothers, which made

things pretty crowded when

we were growing up.

He was late and forgot to

bring any money, which

made me a little bit

annoyed.

When an adjective clause

modifies a whole situation in

this way, it is always a non-

identifying clause with

“which,”

Do we need commas?

Tim-Berners Lee is the

person who created the

World Wide Web.

Do we need commas?

Tim-Berners Lee, whose

parents were computer

scientists, was born in

England.

Do we need commas?

Many of the people who

made important inventions

in the computer industry are

now very rich.

Do we need commas?

However, Berners-Lee, who

works at MIT in

Boston, chose not to sell the

World Wide Web.

Do we need commas?

He believes in the power of

his invention, which can

reach everybody if it is not

expensive.

Some special things about

non-identifying clauses:

In an identifying clause, you

can use which or that:

Computer programs that are

hard to use often lose

money.

Computer programs which

are hard to use often lose

money.

In a non-identifying

clause, you can use which

but not that.

Laney College, which is in

Oakland, has many students.

**Laney College, that is in

Oakland, has many students.

The same thing happens with

who and that:

In an identifying clause,

The students who were absent

last week need to talk to me.

OR

The students that were absent

last week need to talk to me.

In a non-identifying clause,

you can only use who:

My youngest sister, who was a

waitress in college, is always a

generous tipper.

**My youngest sister, that was a

waitress in college, is always a

generous tipper.

Easy general rules:

Never use that as the relative

pronoun in a non-identifying

adjective clause.

An adjective clause after the

name of a person or place or

any capitalized noun will always

be non-identifying.

What is the difference

between a noun clause and

an adjective clause?

When can we omit the

relative pronoun, and when

do we have to use it?

Embed = bury

An adjective clause is a way

to embed one sentence

inside another.

You can leave out the

relative pronoun if it stands

for the object of the

embedded sentence.

The car that I bought was

very expensive.

The car that I bought was

very expensive.

“Car” is the object of the

embedded sentence “I

bought the car.”

Therefore, I can leave out

the relative pronoun:

The car I bought was very

expensive.

Main sentence:

The car was very expensive.

Embedded sentence:

I bought the car.