Subjects and Objects in Adjective Clauses

1. Section A

2. Different adjective clauses can have different word
orders.
noun
relative
pronoun
verb + rest of adjective clause
My sister is the only person
The driver of the car wasn’t hurt.
who has met the neighbors.
that hit me last week
subject
(These are the types of adjective clauses we have studied
so far in this unit.)
RELATIVE PRONOUN = SUBJECT
In many adjective clauses, the relative pronoun is the
subject, so the verb agrees with the noun that the
adjective clause describes.

3. In some other adjective clauses, the relative pronoun is
the object. In this case, the verb agrees with the subject
in the adjective clause (not the noun that the adjective
clause describes.)
noun
relative
pronoun
verb + rest of
adjective clause
My sister is the only person
The driver of the car wasn’t hurt.
who they
that hit last week
subject
have met.
I
object
RELATIVE PRONOUN = OBJECT

4. Section B

5. We often omit object relative pronouns. This is
common in speaking, especially when the subject of
the adjective clause is a pronoun.
He mentioned several names
(that)
Do you remember the girl
It was really cold the year
It’s one of those parks
I didn’t know.
we moved here.
we met last week?
no one ever goes to.
noun
subject + verb + rest of
adjective clause
OMITTING OBJECT RELATIVE PRONOUNS
Be careful! We do not omit subject relative pronouns.
The birds that sit in that tree are really noisy.
(NOT: The birds sit in that tree are really noisy.)