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    Adjective Clauses

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    Loui Ol
    An adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun and answers questions like "what kind" or "which one." It contains a subject and verb and begins with a relative pronoun like who, whom, whose, that, or which or a relative adverb like when, where, or why. Adjective clauses follow nouns and can be essential or nonessential, determined by whether the information in the clause is necessary for the meaning of the sentence. Essential clauses are not set off by commas while nonessential clauses require commas.

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    Adjective Clauses

    Uploaded by

    Loui Ol
    61 views3 pages
    An adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun and answers questions like "what kind" or "which one." It contains a subject and verb and begins with a relative pronoun like who, whom, whose, that, or which or a relative adverb like when, where, or why. Adjective clauses follow nouns and can be essential or nonessential, determined by whether the information in the clause is necessary for the meaning of the sentence. Essential clauses are not set off by commas while nonessential clauses require commas.

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    Adjective clauses notes

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    An adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun and answers questions like "what kind" or "which one." It contains a subject and verb and begins with a relative pronoun like who, whom, whose, that, or which or a relative adverb like when, where, or why. Adjective clauses follow nouns and can be essential or nonessential, determined by whether the information in the clause is necessary for the meaning of the sentence. Essential clauses are not set off by commas while nonessential clauses require commas.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    61 views3 pages

    Adjective Clauses

    Uploaded by

    Loui Ol
    An adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun and answers questions like "what kind" or "which one." It contains a subject and verb and begins with a relative pronoun like who, whom, whose, that, or which or a relative adverb like when, where, or why. Adjective clauses follow nouns and can be essential or nonessential, determined by whether the information in the clause is necessary for the meaning of the sentence. Essential clauses are not set off by commas while nonessential clauses require commas.

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    of 3

    THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE

    Recognize an adjective clause when you see one.

    An adjective clausealso called an adjectival or relative clausewill meet three requirements:

    First, it will contain a subject and verb.

    Next, it will begin with a relative pronoun [who, whom, whose, that, or which]

    or a relative adverb [when, where, or why].

    Finally, it will function as an adjective, answering the questions What kind?How

    many? or Which one?

    The adjective clause will follow one of these two patterns:

    RELATIVE PRONOUN OR ADVERB + SUBJECT + VERB

    RELATIVE PRONOUN AS SUBJECT + VERB

    Here are some examples:

    W hose big, brown eyes pleaded for another cookie

    Whose = relative pronoun; eyes = subject; pleaded = verb.

    W hy Fred cannot stand sitting across from his sister Melanie

    Why = relative adverb; Fred = subject; can stand = verb [not, an adverb, is not officially part of

    the verb].

    That bounced across the kitchen floor


    That = relative pronoun functioning as subject; bounced = verb.

    W ho hiccupped for seven hours afterward

    Who = relative pronoun functioning as subject; hiccupped = verb.

    Avoid writing a sentence fragment.

    An adjective clause does not express a complete thought, so it cannot stand alone as

    a sentence. To avoid writing a fragment, you must connect each adjective clause to a main

    clause.

    Read the examples below. Notice that the adjective clause follows the word that it describes.

    Diane felt manipulated by her beagle Santana, whose big, brown eyes

    pleaded for another cookie.

    Chewing with her mouth open is one reason why Fred cannot stand

    sitting across from his sister Melanie .

    Snarling and skidding on the smooth tile, Oreo and Skeeter, Madison's

    two dogs, competed for the hardboiled egg that bounced across the

    kitchen floor.

    Laughter erupted from Annamarie, who hiccupped for seven hours

    afterward.

    Punctuate an adjective clause correctly.


    Punctuating adjective clauses can be tricky. For each sentence, you will have to decide if the

    adjective clause is essential or nonessential and then use commas accordingly.

    Essential clauses do not require commas. An adjective clause is essential when you need the

    information it provides.

    Look at this example:

    The vegetables that people leave uneaten are often the most nutritious.

    Vegetables is nonspecific. To know which ones we are talking about, we must have the

    information in the adjective clause. Thus, the adjective clause is essential and requires no

    commas.

    If, however, we eliminate vegetables and choose a more specific noun instead, the adjective

    clause becomes nonessential and does require commas to separate it from the rest of the

    sentence.

    Read this revision:

    Broccoli, which people often leave uneaten, is very nutritious.

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