Foundation year

Dalia Samier ENGL 102

Ch.12 Adjective clause

Out lines

• What is adjective clause?• How to connect the two sentence by using the

adjective clause • Points to remember • What are the relative pronouns • Relative Pronouns & Relative Clauses• Using which and that • Using Who, Who(m), and that • Singular and plural verbs in the adjective clause

• Used to modify a noun or a pronoun in the main clause. It may be introduced by the pronouns who, whose, whom, which, or that (and sometimes when or where). These pronouns are called relative pronouns because they relate to a noun or a pronoun in the sentence.

• An adjective clause usually comes after the noun it modifies and is made up of several words, like all clauses, will include a subject and a verb.

What Is an Adjective Clause?

• A clause is a group of related words with a subject and verb.

• Adjective clauses are always dependent clauses.

A dependent clause used as an adjective within a sentence. Also known as an adjectival clause or a relative clause.

Remember

• adjective clauses are adjectives, but they look like sentences because they have verbs and nouns. Because they look like sentences, put the adjective clause after the noun.

For examples :

• I just bought the book you recommended. • Frank is the chef taught me how to cook. • Snowmobiles are cars you can ride on the snow.

When you use adjective clauses, you often need a word that connects the noun with the adjective clause. The word acts like glue and keeps the noun and the adjective clause together. This word is called the relative pronoun. For our purposes, let’s call it the RP (relative pronoun). So, here are the rules:

If the NOUN is a then the RP isPerson Thing

who or that which or that

How to connect the two sentence by using the adjective clause

• I just bought the book which you recommended. • OR- I just bought the book that you

recommended. • Frank is the chef who taught me how to cook.

OR- Frank is the chef that taught me how to cook. • Snowmobiles are cars which you can ride on the

snow.

OR- Snowmobiles are cars that you can ride on the snow.

• There are only five words which introduce adjective clauses.

• Who• Whom• Whose• Which• That

Relative pronoun

• The woman who lives next door is a registered nurse.

• Williamsburg, Virginia, is a place that I'd like to visit.

• Math, which is Dave's favorite subject, has always been easy for him.

• There is the house that I'd like to buy.

• Larry's letter, which he mailed Tuesday, reached me on Thursday

• Sometimes, you don’t need the RP. • A good rule to remember: If the word after the RP is a verb,

you must have the RP there. If the word after the RP is not a verb, you probably don’t need it.

• Example: • I just bought the book that you recommended. • The word after the RP is you. You is not a verb. Therefore,

the following sentence is also correct. • I just bought the book you recommended. • When the noun is a proper name (and begins with a capital

letter), do NOT use that.

CORRECT • Winston Churchill, who was the prime minister of

England, is considered one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century.

INCORRECT

• Winston Churchill, that was the prime minister of England, is considered one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century.

Relative Pronouns & Relative Clauses

Who• Refers to people, used as

subject in the clause

• The lady who teaches in Political Science department is my mentor.

(Relative pronoun as the subject of the clause)

Whom

• Refers to people, used as object or object of preposition

(Formal grammar recommends whom, not who, in the object position)

• Sally, who(m) he knew, arrived yesterday.

(Relative pronoun as the object of the clause)

• The student of whom he spoke was a foreigner.

(Relative pronoun as the object of a preposition)

Which or that• Refers to things,

animals

• The watch which Ken bought was expensive.

• The ring that Jamie wears is from her husband.

• The lion that escaped last night was captured.

(Note: the sentence using which is more formal than the one with that)

Which or that

Whose

• Refers to possession/ownership

• The father whose child is missing is frantic!

• The company whose manager has resigned is in dire straits.

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Using Who, Who(m), and that

s v(a) The man is friendly. He lives next to me.

| s v who/that

(b) The man who lives next to me is friendly.© The man that lives next to me is friendly.In addition to who, that can be used as the subject of an adjective clause.(b) and © have the same meaning.A subject pronoun cannot be omitted.Incorrect: The man lives next to me is friendly.Correct: The man who/that lives next to me is friendly.

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Using which and that

s v(a)The river is polluted. It flows through the

town.↓

which/that s v

(b) The river which flows through the town is polluted.© The river that flows through the town is polluted.Who and whom refer to people. Which refers to things.

That refers to either people or things.

In (a): To make an adjective clause, change it to which or that. It, which, and that all refer to a thing (the river).

(b) and © have the same meaning.

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SINGULAR AND PLURAL VERBS

(a)I know the man who is sitting over there.

In (a): The verb in the adjective clause (is) is singular because who refers to a singular noun.

(b) I know the people who are sitting over there.

In (b): The verb in the adjective clause (are) is plural because who refers to plural noun, people.

Choose the correct answer • Bay to Breakers, ________ , is a marathon race

held annually in San Francisco. (Its runners wear hilarious costumes.)

a. its runners wear hilarious costumes

b. the runners of which wear hilarious costumes

c. which the runners wear hilarious costumes

d. runners of which wear hilarious costumes

e. which its runners wear hilarious costumes

Reference

• http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/adjective_clauses.htm

• http://www.pitt.edu/~atteberr/comp/0150/grammar/adjclauses.html

• http://www.myenglishteacher.net/adjectiveclauses.html

• fundamentals of English Grammar for Betty Schrampfer Azar