Language Focus: An introduction to relative clauses/adjective clauses that use subject and object relative pronouns.
Worksheet Download: adjective-clause-worksheet-esl.docx (scroll down to study the exercises online)
Note: An adjective clause and relative clause are the same. We will use the word adjective clause.
This is the first lesson on adjective clauses. There are three lessons.
Why is it called an adjective clause? Because adjective clauses modify (describe) nouns, just like adjectives. For example:
When you use adjective clauses, you are able to combine two sentences into one. A sentence with an adjective clause is called a complex sentence. Good writers use a mix of simple sentences, compound sentences, and complex sentences.
Here are two simple sentences.
To make an adjective clause, we need to find two ideas in these sentences that refer to the same thing. What is the same in these two sentences? The word ' college ' is in both! So, instead of saying the word twice, we can replace one word with a relative pronoun and make an adjective clause.
Here are the steps:
Step 1: Find the two words that are refer to the same thing.
Step 2: Replace the second word with a correct relative pronoun (that/which/who/when/where. )
Step 3: Move the whole behind the noun it modifies.
That's it! Now you have a complex sentence. The adjective clause is 'which is downtown.'
Before we go further, let's look at a table of the relative pronouns.
The first part of this lesson will focus on subject relative pronouns. These are that/which/who.
Look at these two simple sentences.
The woman is in my class. She likes tennis.
Step1: What do we have twice? ' The woman' and ' she' are talking about the same person, so we can combine the sentences using an adjective clause. In the second sentence, 'She' is the subject of the sentence, so we will use one of the subject relative pronouns (that/which/who) to replace it. (We cannot use whose/where/when/whom to replace subjects.)
So, let's follow our steps.
Step 1: Find the two words that refer to the same thing/person.
Step 2: Replace the second word with a relative pronoun (we'll use a subject relative pronoun - that/which/who)
Step 3: Move the whole behind the noun it modifies. These two sentences are both correct:
Let's practice. I will give you some sentences and you can follow the three steps to create an adjective clause. Remember to move the adjective clause behind the noun it modifies!
Change the second sentence into an adjective clause.
1. Do you see the cat? It is on the roof.
*We don't use 'who' for animals.
2. The man is a dentist. He lives next to me.
3. I see an open table over there. It's by the window.
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4. She invited a guy to the party. The guy dances really well.
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5. The desk is made of oak. It was built by my friend.
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6. People shouldn't throw stones. They live in glass houses.
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Now it's time for the second part of the lesson. Let's look at two more sentences.
The woman is in my class. I like her.
Step 1: What is the same in both sentences? 'The woman' and 'her'. They both refer to the same thing (the woman).
The woman is in my class. I like her .
If we look at the second word, 'her', we can see that it is not the subject of the sentence. It is the object! (I like her object of the verb like). For objects, we have to use an object relative pronoun, which are the following:
Nothing? Yes. We do not need a relative pronoun if we are replacing the object of a verb.
Let me show you by continuing with our example.
Step 2: Replace the second word with a relative pronoun (who/whom/that/(nothing)/which)
The woman is in my class. I like her who(m)/that/(nothing).
Because we are making an adjective clause with the object of a sentence, we have to add one more step.
*Step 3*: Move the object relative pronoun to the beginning of the second sentence/clause.
The woman is in my class. who(m)/that/(nothing) I like her .
Step 4: Move the whole behind the noun it modifies.
They are all correct!
Let's combine another sentence but let's do it with a thing.
Yesterday, I saw some nice shoes at the mall. I want to buy them soon.
Step 1: Look for two words that refer to the same thing.
Yesterday, I saw some nice shoes at the mall. I want to buy them soon.
Step 2: Replace the second word with a relative pronoun
Yesterday, I saw some nice shoes at the mall. I want to buy them which/that/(nothing) soon.
Step 3: Move the relative pronoun to the beginning of the second sentence/clause.
Yesterday, I saw some nice shoes at the mall. which/that/(nothing) I want to buy them soon.
Step 4: Move the whole behind the noun it modifies. Now the final sentence looks like this:
These shoes are old. Someone has thrown them on the line. = These shoes < that someone has thrown on the line>are old.
Now it's time for you to practice.
1. I invited the professor. You met him last year.
2. The printer is broken. We were using it yesterday.
3. I don't want to hear the song. We just heard it.
4. That's the man! I had a big argument with him yesterday.
5. He has a list of customers in his address book. He calls them once a month.
6. He's always talking about his car. He bought it last year in London.
In the next exercise, some of the adjective clauses use a subject relative pronoun and some use an object relative pronoun. Decide which to use.
I gave a dollar to the man ___ was on the corner.
If we look at " ___ was on the corner", we can see that it is missing a subject, so we need a subject relative pronoun (who/that).
I gave a dollar to the man ___ I see every day.
If we look at "___ I see every day", we can see that there is already a subject ("I"). Also, the man is whom you see (he is the object of the verb). So we use an object relative pronoun (whom/that/(nothing)).
Give it a try. Click here to see a list of the relative pronouns again.
1. You are doing exercises. They are for practicing grammar.
2. Do you have my textbook? I lent it to you last week.
3. You can buy tickets at the subway station. They cost about three dollars.
4. She is someone. I used to know her.
5. The keys were in my shoe. I was looking for them all day.
6. The keys were in my shoe. They don't belong to me.
I hope this lesson on adjective clauses (relative clauses) has been useful. Please view the next lesson to learn about the relative pronouns where, when, and whose.
If you have any questions or if you find a mistake, please leave a comment below.
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