Adjective Clauses -- analysis

Adjective Clauses -- analyzing

ORGANIZING .......... QUESTIONS .......... OVERVIEW

Each adjective clause you have found should fit into one part of the following chart: (examples from Sense and Sensibility, Austen)

E = essential/restrictive (is NOT separated from the noun with commas, dashes,or parentheses)
N = nonessential/non-restrictive (IS separated from the noun with commas, dashes,or parentheses)

1a. relative pronoun = SUBJECT of the adjective clause:

E/N	noun/pronoun	WH/S	V
N	a single man,	who	lived to a very advanced age,
N	this eldest daughter,	whose advice	was so effectual,
E	business	which	requires my immediate attendance
E	no companion	that	could make amends

1b. ADJECTIVE PHRASE (reduced from a clause like 1a): (Did you find any of these? Probably not. See the questions below for suggestions.)

E/N	noun/pronoun	no ~~WH/S~~	no ~~be /V~~
N	Mr. Henry Dashwood,		....the legal inheritor of the Norland estate,
E	the thousand pounds		.... belonging to each of the girls

1c. ADJECTIVE PHRASE moved BEFORE the subject (nonessential only) (reduced from a clause like 1a): (you also probably didn't find any of these. See the suggestions below.)

no ~~WH/S~~	no ~~be or V,~~	S	V
	lowering her voice a little,	she	said ...
	affecting to take no notice of what passed,	she	internally resolved henceforward to ..

2a. relative pronoun = OBJECT in the adjective clause:

E/N	noun/pronoun	WH/O	S	V
E	a man	whom	I	can really love
N	the old lady...,	whose possessions	he	was to inherit,
E	complaints ...	which	politeness	had hitherto restrained
E	all	that	he and Marianne	could say

2b. relative pronoun OMITTED (essential only) (from a clause in which the relative pronoun is NOT the SUBJECT) (Did you find any of these? See below)

E/N	noun/pronoun	no ~~WH/O~~	S	V
E	The assistance		he	thought of

3. PREPOSITION + relative pronoun:

E/N	noun/pronoun	Prep	WH/OP	S	V
N	Miss Dashwood,	by	whom	he	was sitting,
N	their visitor,	towards	whose amusement	he	felt himself bound to contribute,
E	this dear parlour	in	which	our acquaintance	first began

4. WHERE/WHEN/WHY as relative pronoun:

E/N	noun/pronoun	WH/Adv	S	V
E	a place	where	everything	reminded her of former ..
N	the park,	where	they	were to breakfast,
N	dinner time,	when	she	entered the room ...

5. Q/N + of + relative pronoun (nonessential only):

noun/pronoun,	QorN/SorO	of	WH/OP	(S)	V
High hills,	some	of	which	.	were open ...
two daughters,	both	of	whom	she	had lived to see ..
the garden,	the gate	of	which	.	had been left open...

6. Clauses beginning with which that modify an entire proposition: (non-essential)

proposition,	which SorO	(S)	V
... they had the pleasure of sitting down nearly twenty to table,	which	Sir John	observed with great contentment.

QUESTIONS / OBSERVATIONS

sentence structure:

can you identify the noun (or pronoun) each adjective clause or phrase is modifying?
where does the adjective clause/phrase come in relation to the noun or pronoun it is modifying?
does the noun or pronoun being modified affect the adjective clause/phrase in any way? (hint: does it have any affect on whether the verb is singular or plural?)
what is usually the first word in the adjective clause/phrase? are there any exceptions?

function of the relative pronoun:

Can you identify the functions of each relative pronoun within the clause/phrase? -- subject? object of the verb? object of a preposition? adverb? other?
Is there ever a relative pronoun that doesn't also have a specific function within the clause/phrase?

Parts 1a,1b,and 1c (relative pronoun = subject of relative clause):

What relative pronouns are used as the subject of relative clauses? What is the difference? Is gender, number, or case important?
The clauses in 1a can be reduced to phrases like 1b by:
- omitting the relative pronoun
- omitting be and/or the part of the verb that agrees with the subject
Look at your original document again. Can you find examples of phrases to add to section 1b? (Look for nouns or pronouns that are followed by modifying phrases.)
- What could you add to the phrases you have added to 1b to make clauses like 1a?
Now look in your original document for adjective phrases IN FRONT of subject of sentences.
- Put them in part 1c.
- Notice the subjects they are modifying. Did you find any modifying personal pronouns?
- Can you see that these phrases can be confused with adverb phrases meaning because or while -- rather than who(m) or which? Is there much difference in meaning?
See how many ways you can restate your sentences (with different relative pronouns? with full clauses? with phrases? with phrases in front of the subject?)

Parts 2a and 2b (relative pronoun = object in relative clause):

What relative pronouns are used as objects in relative clauses? (Are there any differences between the relative pronouns in these clauses and those in 1a?)
What are the relative pronouns the objects of? ... verbs? prepositions? ..?
The relative pronoun in these clauses can be omitted, as in the clauses in 1b. (This is NOT reducing a clause to a phrase, because we still have a subject and complete verb left.)
- Look in your original document again for examples of this. (Look for two nouns together! The second one may be the subject of a relative clause, with no relative pronoun in front of it.)
- Put them in 2b.
See how many ways you can restate the sentences in 2a and 2b.

Part 3 (prepositions):

Did you find any adjective clauses that begin with prepositions (in FRONT of the relative pronouns)?
What relative pronouns did you find immediately after prepositions?
Do you think you can omit the relative pronouns in these clauses? reduce the clauses to phrases?
Look back at 1a. Did you find any relative pronouns that were the objects of prepositions that were NOT in front of them?
See how many ways you can restate clauses in which the relative pronouns are objects of prepositions

Part 4 (where/when/why)

How are these different from other relative clauses? similar?
Can they be reduced?

Part 5 (clauses that begin with an expression of quantity (like some, many, six, etc.) or with another noun, followed by of and a relative pronoun): (non-essential only)

Can you restate these clauses as independent sentences?

Part 6 (clauses that begin with which that modify entire propositions instead of single nouns or pronouns):

Can you see that these clauses are modifying "ideas", but not specific nouns in the sentence?

what's special about whose? (Hint: What always follows it? Can it ever be omitted? essential/non-essential

Can you see how the clauses set off by commas (or dashes or parentheses) contain additional, interesting, probably important information, but NOT information that is necessary to answer the question "Which __(noun)__?" (If the noun is plural, the non-essential clauses refer to ALL members of that group, while essential clauses refer to only SOME .. those defined by the clause.)

frequency: What kinds of clauses or phrases seem to be most frequent? What kinds are rare?

other uses of the same words: Did you have any trouble deciding whether the examples of that or who, etc. that you found were, in fact, part of adjective clauses?

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Ann Salzmann
Intensive English Institute
University of Illinois