Adjective ClausesTerms used to discuss adjective

clauses:adjective clause = relative clause

essential clause = defining clause = identifying clause

non-essential clause = non-defining clause = non-identifying clause

An adjective clause is used to describe a noun. It follows the noun that it describes.

The car that is parked outside belongs to Young-Hee.

A relative pronoun is usually used to introduce

a relative clause:Young-Hee, who is a

Korean student, lives in Hayward.

The main relative pronouns are:

Who: used for humans in subject position:

Hans, who is an architect, lives in Berlin.

Whom: used for humans in object

position:Marike, whom Hans

knows well, is an interior decorator.

Which: used for things and animals in subject

or object position:Marike has a dog which

follows everywhere.

That: used for humans, animals and things, in

subject or object position:Marike is decorating a

house that Hans designed.

There are two kinds of adjective

clauses:

Non-defining (or non-essential) clauses give extra information about the noun,

but are not essential:The desk in the corner, which is covered in books, is mine.

(We don't need this information 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 a non-defining clause is separated

by commas, and the relative pronoun that is not used in a non-

defining clause.)

Defining (or essential) clauses give essential information about the

noun:The package that arrived

this morning is on the desk.

Another way to think about defining and non-defining

clauses:The defining adjective clause

defines a sub-group.The students who missed the test

yesterday need to talk to the teacher.

(There are many students, but only a small group of

them missed the test. These are the students who need to talk to the

teacher.)

The non-defining adjective clause simply gives more

information about the noun it describes. It gives

information about the same noun that it modifies:

International students, who pay high tuition,

often want to skip levels in the program.

(International students the students who pay

high tuition are the same group of

students.)