Adjective Clause

An adjective clause is also called a relative clause or an adjectival clause. A

clause is a group of words that have a subject and predicate. There are two kinds
of clauses: independent and dependent. Independent clauses are sentences
because they express a complete thought. Examples are: “The dog ran away.”
and “Get the door.” In the second one, the subject is implied. To explain the
function of an adjective clause, we will look at dependent clauses.

Dependent Clauses
Dependent clauses have the subject and predicate but can not stand alone. They
depend on another clause to have meaning. Examples are: “When you finish
your work” and "unless I get more money.” With each of these, you want to ask
“What?” because the thought was not finished. Dependent clauses are also
called subordinate clauses and they start with a subordinate conjunction. This is
the word that links the dependent clause to the rest of the sentence.  

Examples of subordinate conjunctions are: how, where, when, why, unless,

although, after, as far as, as if, because, before, once, whether, while, now that,
until, since, and unless.

The three types of dependent clauses are:

 Adverbial (or adverb) - Adverbial clauses function as an adverb and

answer the questions: when, where, why, how, and how much.
Examples include: “Now that it rained a lot, the grass turned green.” and
“I am much olderthan my brother.”

 Nominal - Nominal clauses function as a noun and can be the subject, an

object, an appositive, or a complement. Sometimes nominal clauses
start with an interrogative like: who, what, when, where, how, who,
which, or why. Examples of nominal clauses are: “They always fought
overwho should pay the bill” and “Whoever did thisis in big trouble.”

 Adjectival (or adjective)

What Is an Adjective Clause
Adjectives clauses have a subject and a verb (or predicate). They will start with
a relative pronoun, like: that, who, whom, whose, or which, or a relative adverb,
like why, where, or when. Adjective clauses function as an adjective and
modify nouns and pronouns. They are also called relative clauses. 

Just as the other dependent clauses, the adjective clause does not express a
complete thought. It does not need commas separating it from the rest of the
sentence if it has essential information in it; that is if you need the information it
provides. If it gives additional information, then you use commas. A good way
to test for this is to leave out the clause, read the sentence, and see if the
meaning of the two sentences is different.

Here are some examples of adjective clauses. The adjective clause is

underlined.

 Chocolate, which many of us adore, is fattening.

 People who are smart follow the rules.
 I can remember the time when there were no computers.
 Charlie has a friend whose daughter lives in China.
 Wine that is produced in Tuscany is not cheap.

Adjectives
Since adjective clauses act like adjectives, you may want more information
about adjectives. Some adjectives express the writer’s opinion of a noun or
pronoun, like silly, lovely, awful, and outrageous. These are called opinion
adjectives.

Some adjectives are descriptive, telling about the physical characteristics of

size, shape, color, or age. Examples include: huge, wee, rectangular, oval,
bluish, purple, new, and ancient.

An origin adjective tells where an object originated or where is came from.

These are adjectives like: eastern, lunar, Egyptian, or German.

The composition of a noun or pronoun will be described by a material

adjective.  Examples are: woolen, plastic, metal, or silk.
Some adjectives tell what purpose an object is used for. These many times end
with an “ing.” Some examples include: baking, fishing, testing, or hunting. 

Lastly, some adjectives compare and have levels of comparison. These are
words like: “good, better, best”, “dry, drier, driest”, and “beautiful, more
beautiful, and most beautiful." Other adjectives compare but only on one level,
like: unique, main, impossible, final, and inevitable.  

The Functions of Adjectife Clauses

Adjective clauses are dependent clauses that consists of a relative pronoun
followed by a clause and that perform adjectival functions. Adjective clauses
perform four grammatical functions within sentences in the English language.
The four functions of adjective clauses are:

1. Noun phrase modifier

2. Verb phrase modifier
3. Prepositional phrase modifier
4. Noun clause modifier

Some grammars use the term relative clause for adjective clauses.

Adjective Clauses as Noun Phrase Modifiers

The first grammatical function that adjective clauses perform is the noun phrase
modifier. A noun phrase modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies or
describes a noun including a pronoun or a noun phrase. For example, the
following italicized adjective clauses function as noun phrase modifiers:

 Harry Potter is the boy who lived.

 The map you sent me last week seems outdated.
 The cookies, which I promptly devoured, reminded me of home.
 My aunt is the woman to whom you should have emailed the instructions.
 A book that you ordered through interlibrary loan arrived this morning.
 The neighbor whose petunias you ran over with the lawn mower called
the cops on you.

Adjective clauses most frequently function as noun phrase modifiers.

Adjective Clauses as Verb Phrase Modifiers

The second grammatical function that adjective clauses perform is the verb
phrase modifier. A verb phrase modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that
modifies or describes a verb phrase. Adjective clauses modify only verb phrases
in the form of present participles performing nominal functions. Only which
adjective clauses function as verb phrase modifiers. For example, the following
italicized adjective clauses function as verb phrase modifiers:

 Reading, which is one of my favorite past times, keeps the mind sharp.
 Washing the windows, which still needs completed, occurs every
Wednesday morning.
 I enjoy writing about language, which I do almost every single day.
 Hunting tigers, which many people still consider sport, should be
outlawed internationally.
 The hardest part about learning grammar, which I thoroughly enjoy, is
memorizing all the rules.
 Despite our missing the train, which happened because of a traffic jam,
we arrived on time.

Adjective Clauses as Prepositional Phrase Modifiers

The third grammatical function that adjective clauses perform is the

prepositional phrase modifier. A prepositional phrase modifier is a word,
phrase, or clause that modifies or describes a prepositional phrase. Adjective
clauses modify only prepositional phrases performing nominal functions. Only
which adjective clauses function as prepositional phrase modifiers. For
example, the following italicized adjective clauses function as prepositional
phrase modifiers:

 Behind the machine shed, which is overgrown with weeds, needs mowed.
 Between seven and nine, which is a reasonable time frame, is when
employees must arrive.
 In the closest, which is quite dark, is rather scary.
 After six, which is usually also after dinner, is a good time to call.
 You must clean under the bed, which is covered with dust bunnies.
 His brother is painting along the ceiling, which is ragged and uneven.

Adjective clauses rarely function as prepositional phrase modifiers because

prepositional phrases rarely perform nominal functions.
Adjective Clauses as Noun Clause Modifiers

The fourth grammatical function that adjective clauses perform is the noun
clause modifier. A noun clause modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that
modifies or describes a noun clause. Only which adjective clauses function as
noun clause modifiers. For example, the following italicized adjective clauses
function as noun clause modifiers:

 That the museum cancelled the lecture, which is quite surprising,

disappoints me.
 For you to not graduate from college now, which would be such as
shame, is out of the question.
 That she worked hard for the whole term, which still amazes me, pleased
her parents.
 How the clouds drifted on that July afternoon, which still makes me smile,
may never happen again.
 Do you know when the train should arrive, which is something I should
know?
 The assessment committee announced the problem us refusing to try new
procedures, which is an ongoing challenge.

The four grammatical functions of adjective clauses in English grammar are

noun phrase modifier, verb phrase modifier, prepositional phrase modifier, and
noun clause modifier.

Examples of Adjective Clause

Adjective Clauses In Action

 Pizza,which most people love, is not very healthy.

 The peoplewhose names are on the listwill go to camp.
 Grandpa remembers the old dayswhen there was no television. 
 Fruitthat is grown organicallyis expensive.
 Studentswho are intelligentget good grades.
 Eco-friendly carsthat run on electricitysave gas.
 I know someonewhose father served in World War II.
 Making noise when he eats is the main reasonwhy Sue does not like to
eat with her brother.
 The kidswho were called firstwill have the best chance of getting a seat.
 Running a marathon,a race of twenty-six miles, takes a lot of training.
 I enjoy telling people about Janet Evanovichwhose latest book was
fantastic.
 MODIFIERS
Modifiers are words, phrases, or clauses that provide description in
sentences. Modifiers allow writers to take the picture that they have in
their heads and transfer it accurately to the heads of their readers.
Essentially, modifiers breathe life into sentences.

The Functions Of Modifiers

The functions as an adjective or adverb to limit or qualify the meaning
of another word or word group (called the head).

Example Of Modifiers
 She served the children sandwiches on paper plates.

 He drove the car for nearly six hours a day.

 On the way to the store, she saw a puppy and a kitten.

 Pastor Johnson gave me only $5 to clean all his sidewalks.

 She failed almost every exam she took.

 People who rarely laugh are sad.

 He bought a horse they call Prince for his sister.

 Last week, the Atlanta police reported that three offices were
stolen.
SOURCES :
Adjective Clause

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-
speech/adjectives/adjective-clause.html

http://www.linguisticsgirl.com/grammatical-functions-of-
english-adjective-clauses/

examples.yourdictionary.com/example-adjective-clauses.html

Modifiers

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/modifier.htm

http://grammar.about.com/od/mo/g/modterm.htm

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-misplaced-
modifiers.html