Adjective Clauses

Adjective Clauses

1. They act just like one-word adjectives to describe people, places, things, and concepts. But, they are clauses, which means they have their own subjects and verbs.

2. Clause Markers

   • Who - describe people
     • He is the man who is wearing a turbine.
   • Whom - describes people as object of verb
     • This is the doctor who (m) we met.
   • Which - describes things
     • This is a book which is useful.
   • That - describes both things & people
     • The woman that is standing is my mom.
   • Whose - indicates possession
     • He is the teacher whose son is singing.
   • Where - describes a place
     • I remember the cafe where we met.
   • When - describes a time
     • I remember the time when you ate sushi

3. Identifying vs. Nonidentifying Clauses

   • Punctuation rules
     • No commas (critical to understanding)
       • CAUTION: "That" is not used for nonidentifying clauses.
         • The woman (who / that) created the test studied psychology.
         • The test (which / that / X) she created describes personality types.

4. Reductions

   • If the verb is "to be"
     • Remove the * to be * verb and the clause marker
       • The woman [who is] sitting on the chair is my sister.
       • The woman, [who is] an actress, is beautiful.
   • If the verb is not "to be"
     • Remove the clause marker and change the verb to "ing."
       • She is the woman [who sits] on the chair.
         • She is the woman sitting on the chair.
   • If clause marker is an object: who(m), which, that in identifying clauses
     • The test [which/that] she created is here.
     • This is the doctor [who(m)/that] we saw.