Monday, June 15, 2015

Adjective Clauses

Here is a brief explanation of adjective clauses and relative pronouns.

An adjective clause is used to describe a noun:
The car, which was red, belonged to Young-Hee.

A relative pronoun is usually used to introduce an adjective clause:
Young-Hee, who is a Korean student, lives in Victoria.

The main relative pronouns are:
Pronoun     Use                                                               Example
Who     used for humans in the subject position.      Hans, who is an architect, lives in Berlin.

Whom  used for humans in the object position.  Martin, whom Hans knows well, is an interior                                                                                                                                                             decorator 
Which   used for things and animals in the subject   Susy has a dog which follows her everywhere 
              or object position.               

That     used for humans, animals and things,       Maria is decorating a house that Hans designed 
             in the subject or object position

Whose    used for humans, animals and things in    Susy, whose dog follows her everywhere, is an 
                the subject or object position to show      animal lover.               
                possession

There are two main kinds of adjective clause:
1. Non-defining clauses
Non-defining clauses give extra information about the noun, but they are not essential:

The desk in the corner, which is covered in books, is mine.

Explanation: We don't need this information in order to understand the sentence. “The desk in the corner is mine” is a good sentence on its own — we still know which desk is referred to. Note that non-defining clauses are usually separated by commas, and “that” is not usually used in this kind of context.

2. Defining clauses
Defining clauses give essential information about the noun:

The package that arrived this morning is on the desk.

Explanation: We need this information in order to understand the sentence. Without the relative clause, we don't know which package is being referred to. Note that “that” is often used in defining relative clauses, and they are not separated by commas.

Taken from:
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/grammar/adj.htm

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