Adjective Clauses

At a certain point in your writing in English, you should be able to identify every sentence you write as simple, compound, or complex. Two additional structures, adjective clauses and appositives, will give you a much greater sentence variety within which to accomplish your writing objectives. This page contains a small amount of information about adjective clauses along with just ten very difficult exercises. First, we will define what adjective clauses are and how they work.

An adjective clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun. It is possible to combine the following two sentences to form one sentence containing an adjective clause:

The children are going to visit the museum.
They are on the bus.

The children who are on the bus are going to visit the museum.
| adjective clause |

In the sentence above, there are two other ways to write the sentence correctly using the second sentence as the adjective clause.

The children that are on the bus are going to visit the museum.
The children on the bus are going to visit the museum.

Some other sentences can be combined into a sentence using adjective clauses in a variety of ways, and they are all correct. Note the variety of ways in which the following two sentences can be combined.

The church is old.
My grandparents were married there.

The church where my grandparents were married is old.
The church in which my grandparents were married is old.
The church which my grandparents were married in is old.
The church that my grandparents were married in is old.
The church my grandparents were married in is old.

In the sentences above, the adjective clauses are underlined. All answers are correct. Note the use of the word "in" and how and where it is used.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT PUNCTUATION

Managing simple, compound, and complex sentences, and then adding adjective clauses into the mix can result in some confusing situations regarding punctuation. There are some specific rules when punctuation is permissible or required around adjective clauses (when the information in the adjective clause is non-essential information); however, in my composition classes, I insist that students NOT use commas around adjective clauses for several reasons.

First, non-essential information should generally be avoided in academic writing, at least in the short essays required for these composition classes. Thus, not including the commas will more often be right than wrong.

Second, my Spanish speaking students have a natural tendency to write long sentences using many commas inappropriately. By not using commas around adjective clauses, students can perhaps more readily recognize when a period is required.

Third, I believe it is easier to learn to apply commas later when they are required than the other way around. Indiscriminate use of commas is a hard habit to undo in my experience. Therefore do not use commas around adjective clauses, at least for one semester.

Are you ready to take the quiz?

This quiz is very difficult. These sentences are actually the hardest I could find (in the sense that you need to know ALL the rules in order to get them all correct), so please follow the directions carefully.

1. Do not use commas in any of the completed sentences.
2. Make adjective clauses of the second sentence in every case. (Obviously, any of these sentences could be written using the first sentence as the adjective clause; however, making adjective clauses of the second sentence is harder because it requires knowledge of all the "rules" of writing adjective clauses.)
3. Spell correctly! This quiz is "graded" by computer, so any spelling mistake or punctuation error, like forgetting a period at the end of a sentence, will be counted wrong.

Adjective Clauses In Action

Adjective clauses do not change the basic meaning of the sentence. In some cases, when they provide more information into a sentence, they need to be set off with commas.

Here are several examples of sentences with the adjective clauses underlined:

· Pizza,which most people love, is not very healthy.

· The peoplewhose names are on the listwill go to camp.

· Grandpa remembers the old dayswhen there was no television.

· Fruitthat is grown organicallyis expensive.

· Studentswho are intelligentget good grades.

· Eco-friendly carsthat run on electricitysave gas.

· I know someonewhose father served in World War II.

· Making noise when he eats is the main reasonwhy Sue does not like to eat with her brother.

· The kidswho were called firstwill have the best chance of getting a seat.

· Running a marathon,a race of twenty-six miles, takes a lot of training.

· I enjoy telling people about Janet Evanovichwhose latest book was fantastic.

· The peoplewaiting all night outside the Apple storeare trying to purchase a new iPhone.

· "Hewho can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in aweis as good as dead." - Albert Einstein

· “Thosewho do not complainare never pitied.” - Jane Austen

· “People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thoughtwhich they avoid.” - Søren Kierkegaard

· “Never go to a doctorwhose office plants have died.” - Erma Bombeck

Turning Adjective Clauses into Phrases

An adjective clause with a subject pronoun - such as which, that or who - can also be shortened into a phrase.

You can shorten an adjective clause in two ways:

1. Omit the subject pronoun and verb.

2. Omit the subject pronoun and change the verb to the form ending in "ing."

Here are some examples of how to create an adjective phrase:

· Adjective Clause: The books, which are lost, are not really necessary.

· Adjective Phrase: The books lost are not really necessary.

· Adjective Clause: The girl who is running is my best friend.

· Adjective Phrase: The girl running is my best friend.

· Adjective Clause: His share of the money, which consists of $100,000, was given to him on Monday.

· Adjective Phrase: His share of the money, consisting of $100,000, was given to him on Monday.

· Adjective Clause: Something that smells bad may be rotten.

· Adjective Phrase: Something smelling bad may be rotten.

Remember, the goal of an adjective clause is to add more information to a noun or a pronoun. You can add the information by including a few more words or by changing the adjective clause to a phrase.

The Adjective Clause

Recognize an adjective clause when you see one.

An adjective clause—also called an adjectival or relative clause—will 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 questionsWhat 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:

Whose big, brown eyes pleaded for another cookie

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

Why 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.

Who 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.

Growling ferociously, 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 doesrequire commas to separate it from the rest of the sentence. Read this revision:

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