ADJECTIVE CLAUSES

(Relative Clauses)
 Is one type of
subordinate clause

Acts like an adjective

The Adjective
Clause Will modify a noun or
pronoun

Will always follow that

noun or pronoun
An adjective clause is used to
describe a noun:
•The car, which was blue, belonged to
Ethan.
A relative pronoun is usually used
to introduce an adjective clause: Brief Review
•Pancho, who is an English Teacher, lives
in Santiago.
•Sometimes a relative pronoun is
preceded by a preposition that is part
of the adjective clause.
•Have you read the book on which the
movie is based?
 Who: used for humans in subject position: Tasia,
who is a teacher, works in Denver.

Whom: used for humans in object position: Megan,

whom Tasia knows well, is an excellent teacher.

Relative Whose: used to find out which person something

Pronouns belongs to: Tom, whose dog loves to be outside,
goes running with his dog every day.
Which: used for things and animals in subject or
object position: Francoise has a dog which follows
her everywhere.
That: used for humans, animals and things, in
subject or object position: Moises is decorating the
house that Francoise designed.
 When: used for periods of
time in object position: The
dry season, when it doesn’t
rain for months, is a difficult
Relative period.
Adverbs Where: used for places in
subject or object position:
Lakeland University, where I
go to school, is in a
convenient location.
There are two main kinds of adjective
clauses:
■ Non-defining clauses: (give extra information about the noun, but are not
essential)
– Alejandro, who arrived late this morning, is a scientist .
■ (We don’t need this information in order to understand the sentence. Non-
defining clauses are usually separated by commas. That is not usually used in
this kind of context.)

■ Defining clauses: (give essential information about the noun)

– The information that Moises sent this morning is on your desk.
■ (We need this information in order to understand the sentence. Without the
relative clause, we don’t know which information is being referred to. That is
often used in defining relative clauses, and they are not separated by commas.)
Remember:

■ Adjective clauses are dependent clauses. If you take them out of the
sentence, you must have a complete sentence left.
Commas with Adjective
Clauses
■ When the adjective clause tells which one, it
cannot be taken out of the sentence without
changing the meaning of the sentence (essential
– no commas).
■ A clause beginning with that is usually essential.
■ Clauses that add information that is not needed to
understand the basic meaning or nonessential.
Use commas!