This document provides an explanation of adjective clauses and their usage. It defines an adjective clause as a dependent clause that describes a noun. Adjective clauses use relative pronouns like who, which, that to connect the clause to the noun it modifies. The pronoun must match the type of noun - people use who/whom, things/animals use which/that. Adjective clauses can be either essential/identifying clauses that are necessary to identify the noun, or non-essential/non-identifying clauses that provide extra information, with identifying clauses not using commas and non-identifying clauses using commas.

1. Adjective Clauses
Explanation and Practice

2. What is an Adjective?
• An Adjective describes a noun. Remember
nouns can either be subjects, objects or objects of prepositions.
Which words are
adjectives?
 unkind
 fast
 value
 careless
 silently
 old
Which words are
adjectives?
 unkind
 fast
 value
 careless
 silently
 old

3. What is an Adjective Clause?
• An Adjective clause is a dependent clause
(dependent word + subject and verb) that
describes a noun.
• You can imagine that an adjective clause is
taking two sentences about the same noun and
making them into one sentence.
Examples:
Route 66 is a long road.
This road goes from Chicago to California.
Route 66 is a long road that goes from Chicago to
California.
Examples:
The postcard shows a beautiful vista of the Grecian coastline.
I bought the postcard.
The postcard which I bought shows a beautiful vista of the
Grecian coastline.

4. Examples:
Route 66 is a long road.
This road goes from Chicago to California.
Route 66 is a long road that goes from Chicago to California.
Subject Relative Pronouns
• We use relative pronouns to create dependent
clauses.
• The relative pronoun replaces the word in
common between the two sentences.
• Sometimes, the relative pronoun will be the
subject of the dependent clause.
Subject Relative Pronouns
People: Who or That
Things or Animals: Which or That
Possessive: Whose

5. Examples:
The postcard shows a beautiful vista of the Grecian coastline.
I bought the postcard.
The postcard which I bought shows a beautiful vista of the
Grecian coastline.
Object Relative Pronouns
• Sometimes, the relative pronoun will replace the
object in the dependent clause or the object of a
preposition.
• To connect this type of clause, the relative
pronoun must be moved to the front of the
clause – in front of the subject.
Object Relative Pronouns
People: Whom, Who or That
Things or Animals: Which or That
Possessive: Whose

6. Things to Remember
• The relative pronoun replaces the noun – don’t
use it and the noun in the dependent clause.
– Example:
• The postcard is pretty. I bought the postcard.
Incorrect: The postcard which I bought the postcard is pretty.
Correct: The postcard which I bought is pretty.
• The relative pronoun must be next to the word it
describes.
– Example:
• Incorrect: The sharks opened their mouths while they swam
by the boat which were full of sharp teeth.
• Correct: The sharks opened their mouths which were full of
sharp teeth while they swam by the boat.

7. Things to Remember
• Formal written English: In formal, academic English in
adjective clauses with object relative pronouns, for
people, we use whom. In adjective clauses with an
object of a preposition, bring the preposition forward and
use whom or which.
– Example: Jack London, whom I admire, wrote a lot of
short stories.
• Rather than: Jack London, who I admire, wrote a lot of short stories.
– Example: The presidency is the position to which
many politicians aspire.
• Rather than: The presidency is the position that many politicians
aspire to.

8. Things to Remember
• You must understand whether or not the
dependent clause is essential information or
extra information in the understanding of the
noun. This impacts the meaning and the
punctuation.
• Essential clauses are also called identifying or
restrictive. We DO NOT use commas with
these clauses.
• Extra clauses are also called non-identifying or
non-restrictive. WE MUST use commas with
these clauses. We cannot use the relative
pronoun that.

9. Things to Remember
• Can you understand a difference between these two
sentences?
– My sister, who lives in Bel Air, has three children.
– My sister who lives in Bel Air has three children.
• In which sentence is it clear that I have more than one sister?
•What about between these two sentences?
•He looked in the refrigerator, and he threw away the food which
was rotten.
•He looked in the refrigerator, and he threw away the food, which
was rotten.
In which sentence is all of the food in the refrigerator rotten?

10. Identifying vs. Non-Identifying
• Think about if a listener or
reader would be able to
identify the noun without the
adjective clause.
Example:
He is the man who works at the grocery store.
This is essential (identifying) information. Think about it as
two sentences.
He is a man.
He works at the grocery store.
Without the second sentence, you couldn’t identify him.
Notice that a become the because the noun changes from indefinite to definite because of
the identification.

11. Identifying vs. Non-Identifying
• Think about if a listener or
reader would be able to
identify the noun without the
adjective clause.
Example:
Maria, who works as a physician’s assistant, enjoys her
job.
This is extra (non-identifying) information. Think about it as two
sentences.
Maria enjoys her job.
Maria works as a physician’s assistant.
You know her name from the first sentence. This is enough to identify her.