American English: Adjective Clause

Using whose in adjective clause

You use whose in questions; to ask about possession.

Whose camera is that? Is it yours?

And you use whose in Adjective Clauses, too!

The people whose picture I took smiled and waved at the camera.

I took their picture at a birthday party. Be sure to notice that I didn't say:

The people who I took their picture smiled and waved at the camera.

No, it's:

The people whose picture I took smiled and waved at the camera.

Using preposition in adjective clause

You know, words like in, on, at, to are Prepositions. All those little words. Well, those little words are used in Adjective Clauses, too. Like this.

The flower is beautiful. I'm looking at it.

Becomes...

The flower which I'm looking at is beautiful.

Or...

The flower that I'm looking at is beautiful.

Or...yes! you can omit the object pronoun here!

The flower ø I'm looking at is beautiful.

That's great! Oh!I have to tell you about this funny thing English does with Prepositions in Adjective Clauses. Sometimes Prepositions come at the beginning of the clause. That's pretty strage. Here's what I mean.

The flower at which I'm looking is beautiful.

Very formal. You'll see that structure in academic writing, business reports, maybe formal invitations. But you won't hear it much in everyday English.

Well... Prepositions are just little words, but very important especially in Adjective Clauses.

Singular and plural verbs in adjectives clauses

Sometimes learners have a problem with Subject-Verb Agreement in Adjective Clauses.

Like this:

The student who sit next to me is from Indonesia.

So, do you see the problem? Right. Student is singular. Who refers to a singular noun, student. So the verb needs to be singular.

The student who sits next to me...

Or, in the plural,

The students who sit near me are from Indonesia.

Singular subject, singular verb. Plural subject, plural verb. That's nothing new, is it? That's how English works! And it's just something many learners need to pay a little special atention to.

Using which and that in adjective clause

Now, let's look at which in Adjective Clauses. Well, that means we're going to talk about things, not people. Which refers to things.

The boy which found my wallet...?

No. You can't use which with people.

But look this:

The wallet OXXSXXV
The wallet which he found was full of money.

Or you can say:

The wallet OXSXXV
The wallet that he found was full of money.

There's no difference between which and that in those sentences.

And,you can omit the object pronoun:

The wallet OXSXXV
The wallet ø he found was full of money.

That's pretty neat! Okay. Now let's look at using which and that as subject pronouns. Here are the two sentences we want to combine:

The bus goes downtown. It stops at this corner.

The bus whi SXXV
The bus which stops at this corner goes downtown.
The bus wSXXV
The bus that stops at this corner goes downtown.

Which or That, it doesn't matter (though native speakers seem to prefer that here). But you have to use one of them. You CAN'T omit a subject pronoun from an Adjective Clause.

Using who, whom, and that in adjective clauses

We are going to show you how who and whom work in Adjective Clauses.

The women were nice. They visited our school.

We want to combine those sentences, using Adjective Clauses. They is a subject pronoun. Well, who is a subject pronoun too, in Adjective Clauses.

The women who visited our school were nice.

Great! So far so good. But notice: when you use who, you don't need they anymore!

Now whom.

The women were nice. I met them yesterday.

Them is an object pronoun. Well whom is too, in Adjective Clauses.

The women whom I met yesterday were nice.

Now notice something: You don't need them if you use whom.

Ready to do some more Adjective Clauses?

Okay. Let's combine these next two sentences:

I thanked the boy. He found my wallet.

We can use who:

I thanked the boy who found my wallet.

Or, listen to this!: we can use That.

I thanked the boy that found my wallet.

Now let's combine these next two sentences:

The men were kind. I met them.

We can use whom:

The men whom I met were kind.

Or we can use that:

The men that I met were kind.

Or... now, here's where you need to pay attention, we can omit, yes omit (that means "leave out" or "not use") an object pronoun in an Adjective Clause! Can you believe that?

The men ø I met were kind.

That's what native speakers usually do. They omit an object pronoun when they can.

And let me tell you this: native speakers don't like to use whom a lot. It's one of those "get all dressed up in your best clothes" words: very formal.

Adjective Clause

Adjective Clause

Adjective Clause is very common. You already use it. Like this:

The computer you're using has a microphone.

Well, maybe it doesn't. That's not the point. The point is this: That sentence has TWO subjects and TWO verbs:

the computer has

And...

you're using

Adjective Clause is that second one. "you're using." That's an Adjective Clause.

The computer you're using has a microphone.

Is is okay to say:

The computer that you're using has a microphone?

Yes. No difference.

Is it okay to say:

The computer who you're using has a microphone?

No way!

So how does all this work? Stay tuned. That's what all this is about.

Adjective describe nouns. Remember? long hair, dark hair, curly hair.

So? Adjective Clauses describe nouns, too. Big deal.

Adjectives and Adjective Clauses names are similar but, you know they're different.

Adjectives come in front of nouns.

I like polite people.

Well, Adjetive Clauses come after nouns.

I like people who are always polite to others.

And... get this... an Adjective Clause has a subject and a verb. That's why it is called a "clause". That's what a clause is: a structure with a subject and a verb.

Here's the main clause:

I like people...

An here's the Adjective Clause:

...who are always polite to others.

See that? Who is the subject and are is the verb of the Adjective Clause.

American English

Fecha

Pages

Using whose in adjective clause

Using preposition in adjective clause

Singular and plural verbs in adjectives clauses

Using which and that in adjective clause

Using who, whom, and that in adjective clauses

Adjective Clause