A power point presentation on Relative Clauses with examples, a description of how they are used and when to use Relative Clauses

1. Relative Clauses (also
Relative Clauses (also
known as Adjective
known as Adjective
Clauses)
Clauses)
Jennifer Castillo Solis

2. What is an adjective
clauses?
• An adjective clauses modifies a noun.
It describes or gives information
about a noun.
• An adjective clause follows a noun

3. Some examples are…
• I met a man who is kind to everyone
• I met a woman who is a famous poet
• I met a girl who lives in Chicago.
• What is the noun in each sentence?
• What is the adjective clause?

4. How to Recognize an
adjective clause
• First it will contain a subject and a
verb
• Next it will begin with a relative
pronoun (who, whom, whose, that,
which) or a relative adverb (when,
where, why)

5. Recognizing an adjective
clause
• Finally, it will function as a adjective
answering the questions
• What kind
• How many
• Which one

6. Follow this pattern
• Adjective clause will have one of
these two patterns:
• Relative noun or adverb+subject+verb
• Relative pronoun as subject+ verb

7. There are two kinds of
clauses:
• Independent
• Dependent

8. Independent Clauses
• Independent clauses can complete a
sentence all by themselves
• Example:
• We are studying grammar.
• ¨We¨ is the Subject
• ¨Are studying¨ is the verb

9. Questions and
Independent Clauses
• A complete question can also be
considered an independent clause
• Example:
• What are you doing?
• Have you lost your mind?

10. An order or command and
Independent Clauses
• A command or an order can also be
considered an independent clause
• Example:
• ¨Stand up for your rights¨
• ¨Get out right now¨

11. Dependent Clauses are
different…
• A dependent clauses needs something
else in order to be complete
• Example:
• ¨After you finish…¨
• Finish what? You need to know more
information, this is the first half of a
dependent clause

12. There are several kinds
of dependent clauses:
• Adverb Clauses
• Noun Clauses
• Adjective Clauses

13. Adverb Clauses
• Adverb clauses are attached to
dependent clauses
• Example:
• I will finish this presentation, after I
take a cat nap.
• The underlined part is the adverb
clause

14. Noun Clauses
• Noun clauses are dependent clauses
that take the place of single nouns
• They can be used anywhere nouns can
be used: as subjects or objects

15. More on Noun Clauses
• Usually begin with ¨that¨ or a wh-
word ( who, whom, what, why, where,
when)
• ¨That¨ can be removed if there is
another subject in the clause

16. Noun Clauses continued
• Noun clauses can be used as subjects
in place of simple nouns.
• Example:
• Mary saw the robbery.

17. Even more on noun
clauses
• In place of simple nouns a noun clause
can also be used as objects after
verbs or prepositions
• Examples:
• I believe you.
• I belive you are right.

18. Adjective Clauses
• An adjective clause is similar to a
noun clause in the sense that wh-
words and that are used as pronouns
to introduce the clause

19. More on Adjective
clauses
• An adjective clause can be used to
describe or modify a noun
• Can be used in place of a single
adjective
• Should follow the noun it modifies

20. Practice time
• What is the adjective clause in the
following sentence?:
• The man who is riding a bicycle is the
new president of the company.

21. Answer….
• The sentence was: The man who is
riding a bicycle is the new president
of the company.
• The answer is: man who is riding a
bicycle
• The idea was ¨The man is the
president of the company¨

22. One more try…
• ¨Maria, whose birthday we are
celebrating is transferring to the
university next quarter.¨
• What is the adjective clause?

23. The answer was…
• ¨whose birthday we are celebrating¨
• The original idea was Maria
transferring to a university next
quarter

24. Important to Remember
• The adjective clause has to
inmediately follow the word that it
describes

25. Adjective reminder
• If the adjective clause is placed in
the wrong spot is becomes a dangling
modifier
• Example:
• ¨My aunt is on vacation, who lives in
Newark¨

26. The correct way should
be…
• My aunt who lives in Newark is on
vacation.

27. There are two kinds of
adjective clauses:
• Restrictive
• Non Restrictive

28. Sneak peak at restrictive
and non restrictive clauses:
Restrictive Clause Non restrictive
clause
are necessary for are interesting, like
identification—tell gossip, but don’t
“which one” identify or tell “which
one”
DO NOT have ALWAYS have
commas around clause commas around clause

29. Restrictive Clauses
• Important to remember that
restrictive clauses help in identifying
• Telling which one is doing to activity

30. Example time
• The man who is blowing the whistle is
the coach.
The restrictive clause identifies who
the person that is blowing the
whistle

31. Non Restrictive Clauses
• Are not as specific in identifying as
the restrictive clauses
• Include the use of commas are the
clause

32. Example time
• The man was whistling which was
annoying.
• This is vague and does not indicate
which man was whistling.

33. Coordination
• Coordination is a useful way of
connecting ideas that are roughly
equal in importance. But often we
need to show that one idea in a
sentence is more important than
another

34. Example:
• How can this sentence be combined?
My father is a superstitious man.
He always sets his unicorn traps at
night.

35. Answer…
When the sentences are coordinated
in this way, each main clause is given
equal emphasis.
My father is a superstitious man, and
he always sets his unicorn traps at
night.

36. Subordination
• Subordination is needed to indicate
that one part of a sentence is
secondary (or subordinate) to
another part.
• Commonly used in adjective clauses

37. Subordination…
• What if we want to place greater
emphasis on one statement than on
another?
• We then have the option of reducing
the less important statement to an
adjective clause.

38. Example…
• My father, who is a superstitious
man, always sets his unicorn traps at
night.

39. As a Reminder….
• It is important to remember that
relative clauses are quite extensive
and can take some time to fully
understand.
• However practice makes perfect…

40. Thank you for your attention