GUDANG BACA

Adjective Clauses
—an adjective clause is a clause that describes a word or a group of words in another clause. Adjective clauses are often part of a complex sentence.

Adjective clauses use that, who, whom, and which to begin the clause :

She's the person who gave me the idea.
or
She's the person that gave me the idea.

In both sentences, the person is described by...

she gave me the idea.

...but use that or who in place of "she."

A complex sentence has at least one main clause and one or more subordinate clauses. The subordinate clause may be a noun clause, an adjective clause (relative clause) or an adverb clause. The adjective clause is used to modify a noun. A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples: man, city, book, and courage.

Example :
I met a man who is kind to everybody.
I met a man = an independent clause or a main clause.
who is kind to everbody = a dependent clause = adjective clause.

Adjective clause that require commas are called “non-essential” or “non-restrictive“ or “non-identifying“.

Example :
My brother, who lives in Birmingham, is an engineer.
        This sentence means :
        - My brother is an engineer. He lives in Birmingham.
        - I  only have  one brother.

—Relative Pronouns : who, whom, which, whose. Use for persons :
1. As subject, relative pronouns : who, that.
Example :
I thanked the woman.
She helped me.
= a) I thanked the woman who helped me.
= b) I thanked the woman that helped me.

 In (a): I thanked the woman = an independent clause.
           who helped me = an adjective clause (a dependent clause)
The adjective clause modifies the noun “woman“.

In (a) : who is the subject of the adjective clause.
In (b) : that is the subject of the adjective clause.
(a) and (b) have the same meaning.

who = used for people.
which = used for things.
that = used for both people and things.

—As object, relative pronouns : whom, who, that.
Example :
 A). The man was Mr. Jones.
       I saw him.
= a) The man whom I saw was Mr. Jones.
= b) The man who I saw was Mr. Jones.
= c) The man that I saw was Mr. Jones.

‘WHO “ is usually used instead of WHOM, especially in speaking. WHOM is generally used only in very formal English. Whereas WHO is used in informal English.
WHO (WHOM ) = used for people. “Whom “ is possible instead of who ( for people ) when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause.

Example :
1. The man whom I wanted to see was away on holiday. (I wanted to see him).
You can also use whom with a preposition (to/from/with whom, etc). But, we don’t often use “whom“ In spoken English, we normally prefer who or that (or you can leave them out).

—As  possessive, relative pronoun : whose
Whose and who’s have the same pronounciation, but NOT the same meaning.
Example :
Mr. Hasan went to Australia.
Mr. Hasan’s house is on Jln. Majapahit.
Mr. Hasan whose house is on Jln. Majapahit went to Australia.

I know the man.
His bicycle was stolen.
= I know the man whose bicycle was stolen.

Whose is used to show possession. It carries the same meaning as other possessive pronouns used as adjectives : his, her, its, their, her, our, your, and my. Like possessive adjectives above, whose is connected to a noun. Both whose and the noun it is connected to are placed at the beginning of the adjective clause. Whose can not be omitted. Whose usually modifies “people“, but it may also be used to modify “things“.

—As subject, relative pronoun : which.
Example :
The book is on the table. The book describes prehistoric animals.
= The book, which describes the pre-historic animals, is on the table.

—As Object, relative pronoun : which.
Example :
Tono is reading the book.
The book has a red cover.
= The book, which Tono is reading, has a red cover.

But, in spoken English, we often keep the preposition after the verb in the relative clause. When we do this, we normally use “WHICH.

Example :
Yesterday we visited the City Museum, which I’d never been to before.

—As possessive, relative pronoun : whose (for animals ) ; of which ( for things ).
Example :
The cat was dead.
Its furs are black.
= The cat, whose furs are black, was dead.

WHERE  is used in ajective clause to modify a place ( city, country, room,house,etc).
If WHERE  is used, a preposition is not included in the adjecive clause. If WHERE is not used, the preposition must be included.

Example : The building where he lives is very old.

WHEN is used in an adjective clause to modify a noun of time (year, day, time, century, etc). The use of a preposition in an adjective clause that modifies a noun of time is somewhat different from that in other adjective clause. A preposition is used preceding WHICH  ( like part b). Otherwise, the preposition is omitted.

Example : I’ll never forget the day that I met you.

WHY replaces for which used for reasons.
Example : The reasons for which he came is not very convincing.
    = The reason why he came is not very convincing.

How to find an adjective clause:

1) A dependent clause in a sentence will always contain both a subject and a verb. Make sure that when you find something you think is a clause that it does have a subject and a verb.

2) An adjective clause will begin with a relative pronoun or a relative adverb. Does the clause that you found begin with one of those?

3) Finally, does the clause answer the same types of questions that an adjective answers? Does it tell you which one, what kind, or how many? Does it give you more information about a noun or pronoun that comes before it? If so, then you have found an adjective clause.

• Don't use commas if your clause is essential; i.e., it is required to identify its noun. (This is called a restrictive clause.)
• Do use commas if your clause is just additional information. (This is called a non-restrictive clause.)

Which and that are interchangeable, provided we're talking about which without a comma.

When which starts a restrictive clause (i.e., a clause not offset with commas), you can replace it with that. In fact, Americans will insist you use that instead of which for a restrictive clause. For many, even British, that sounds more natural with a restrictive clause. And, this is something we can use. If all this talk of restrictive and non-restrictive clauses is confusing, try replacing your which with that. If your sentence still sounds good, you almost certainly want which without a comma. This trick works because that can only be used with a restrictive clause, and – whether you consciously know it or not – some language-processing area of your brain does.

The "that substitution" trick also works with who, but be aware that some of your readers might not like that used for people.