Adjective Clauses

1
Adjective Clauses

• Explanation and Practice

2
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
• careless
• silently
• old

• Which words are adjectives?
• unkind
• fast
• value
• careless
• silently
• old

3
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
• Route 66 is a long road.
• This road goes from Chicago to California.
• Route 66 is a long road that goes from Chicago to
  California.

• Examples
• The postcard shows a beautiful vista of the
  Grecian coastline.
• I bought the postcard.
• The postcard which I bought shows a beautiful
  vista of the Grecian coastline.

4
Relative Pronouns

• We use relative pronouns to create dependent
  clauses.
• The relative pronoun replaces the word in common
  between the two sentences.

• Examples
• Route 66 is a long road.
• This road goes from Chicago to California.
• Route 66 is a long road that goes from Chicago to
  California.

Subject Relative Pronouns People Who or
That Things or Animals Which or That Possessive
Whose
5
Remember

• 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.

6
Essential v. Nonessential Clauses

• 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 restrictive
  clauses. We DO NOT use commas with these clauses.
• Extra clauses are also called non-restrictive
  clauses. WE MUST use commas with these clauses.
  Also, these clauses will not use the relative
  pronoun that.

7
Essential v. Nonessential

• 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?

8
Essential v. Nonessential How To Tell the
Difference

• 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 couldnt identify him. Notice that
a become the because the noun changes from
indefinite to definite because of the
identification.
9
Essential v. Nonessential How To Tell the
Difference

• Think about if a listener or reader would be able
  to identify the noun without the adjective clause.

Example Maria, who works as a physicians
assistant, enjoys her job.
This is extra (non-identifying) information.
Think about it as two sentences. Maria enjoys her
job. Maria works as a physicians assistant. You
know her name from the first sentence. This is
enough to identify her.