2. Adjective Clause
Adjective clauses (or relative clauses) are a type of subordinate clause
that act as adjectives.
Characteristics
• Modify the noun or pronoun
e.g That is the road that leads to the market.
The man who gave me a bucket of roses is my fiancé.
• Can be used as subject and object
e.g That is the policeman who caught the thief.
She is the girl whom I am falling in love with.
3. • are introduced by dependent signals as follows:
Who
Whom PEOPLE
Whose
ANIMALS, THI
Which NGS
People, Animal
That s, Things
4. • Can be used to join sentences
e.g – Jeremy is the postman.
– His dog barked at us yesterday.
Jeremy is the postman whose dog barked at us yesterday.
– Is that the postman named Jeremy?
– The dog bit him last week.
Is that the postman named Jeremy whom the dog bit last week?
That is the postman named Jeremy whom the dog bit last week.
– Calen is the tallest boy in the class.
– He is the class monitor.
Calen who is the class monitor is the tallest boy in the class.
– The jewels have been stolen.
– She had locked in the cupboard.
The jewels which she had locked in the cupboard have been stolen.
5. Exercises
Fill in the blank with “who”, “whom”, “whose”, “which”
• Jonas, ............ brother is my neighbor, has gone to England.
whose
• Mr. Brandon, ........... is the manager of Bentley Press, is coming to
who
visit us.
• Our team, ............ has won the cup, will return tomorrow.
which
• Smoking, ............ is the cause of lung cancer, is a bad habit we should
which
give up.
• Columbus, ............ most people believed discovered America, never
whom
did discover it at all.
• The lady to …......... you spoke just now is my teacher.
whom
• Miss Sue, ........... is in charge of the Girls’ Brigade, has asked the girls
who
to come for practice.
6. Join each pair of sentences with a suitable adjective clause. You must leave out
the underlined words!
1. The man is Adam’s father. He drove past just now.
The man who drove past just now is Adam’s father.
2. The thief was caught by the police. He stole the bag.
The thief who stole the bag was caught by the police.
3. I know the girl. Her brother is the manager of that company.
I know the girl whose brother is the manager of that company.
4. The boy lives next door. My sister is talking to the boy.
The boy whom my sister is talking to lives next door.
5. They shot the tiger. The tiger killed the villager.
They shot the tiger which killed the villager.
