Examples of Adjective Clauses
A sentence which contains just one clause is called a simple sentence.
A sentence which contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses is called a complex
sentence. (Dependent clauses are also called subordinate clauses.)
There are three basic types of dependent clauses: adjective clauses, adverb clauses, and noun clauses.
(Adjective clauses are also called relative clauses.)
Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns, giving a description or more information. An adjective clause is simply
a group of words with a subject and a verb that provide a description. The clause starts with a pronoun such as
who, whom, that, or which or an adverb such as when, where and why.
Adjective Clauses In Action
Adjective clauses do not change the basic meaning of the sentence. In some cases, when they provide more
information into a sentence, they need to be set off with commas.
Here are several examples of sentences with the adjective italicized:
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Pizza, which most people love, is not very healthy.
The people whose names are on the list will go to camp.
Grandpa remembers the old days when there was no television.
Fruit that is grown organically is expensive.
Maya Angelou, who wrote “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, is one of the great American poets.
Students who are intelligent get good grades.
Eco-friendly cars that run on electricity save gas.
The people waiting all night outside the Apple store are trying to purchase a new iPhone.
"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead." - Albert Einstein
“Those who do not complain are never pitied.” - Jane Austen
Turning Adjective Clauses into Phrases
An adjective clause with a subject pronoun - such as which, that or who - can also be shortened into a phrase.
You can shorten an adjective clause in two ways:
1. Omit the subject pronoun and verb.
2. Omit the subject pronoun and change the verb to the form ending in "ing."
Here are some examples of how to create an adjective phrase:
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Adjective Clause: The books, which are lost, are not really necessary.
Adjective Phrase: The books lost are not really necessary.
Adjective Clause: The girl who is running is my best friend.
Adjective Phrase: The girl running is my best friend.
Adjective Clause: His share of the money, which consists of $100,000, was given to him on Monday.
Adjective Phrase: His share of the money, consisting of $100,000, was given to him on Monday.
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Examples of Adverb Clauses
A. Adverb clauses show relationships such as time, cause and effect, contrast, and condition.
B. A sentence which contains one adverb clause and one independent clause is the result of combining
two clauses which have one of the relationships above. You can combine two independent clauses to make
one sentence which contains an adverb clause by following these steps:
1. You must have two clauses which have one of the relationships in A above:
Billy couldn’t swim.
He jumped off the pier. (contrast)
2. Add a subordinating conjunction to the beginning of the clause you want to make dependent:
Although Billy couldn’t swim
He jumped off the pier.
3. Place the two clauses next to each other. Usually, the order of the clauses is not important. When the adverb
clause precedes the independent clause, the two clauses are usually separated by a comma:
Although Billy couldn’t swim, he jumped off the pier.
When the independent clause precedes the adverb clause, there is usually no comma:
Billy jumped off the pier although he couldn’t swim.
C. The subordinators in adverb clauses are called subordinating conjunctions. They cannot be omitted.
They cannot be subjects. Here are some of the subordinating conjunctions:
Time: after, before, when, while, as, by the time, whenever, since, until, as soon as, once, as long as
Cause and effect: because, since, now that, as, as long as, inasmuch as, so (that), in order that
Contrast: although, even though, though, whereas, while
Condition: if, unless, only if, whether or not, even if, providing (that), provided (that), in case, in the event (that).
D. Here are some examples of sentences which contain one adverb clause (underlined) and one
independent clause. The two sentences in each pair have the same meaning:
After he took lessons, George could swim well.
George could swim well after he took lessons.
Because he couldn’t swim, Billy drowned.
Billy drowned because he couldn’t swim.
Although he isn’t interested in food, Fred works as a cook.
Fred works as a cook although he isn’t interested in food.
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Examples of Appositive and Appositive Phrases
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it. The appositive can be a short
or long combination of words. Look at these examples:
The insect, a cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large cockroach with hairy legs, is crawling across the kitchen table.
The insect, a large, hairy-legged cockroach that has spied my bowl of oatmeal , is crawling
across the kitchen table.
Punctuate the appositive correctly.
The important point to remember is that a nonessential appositive is always separated from the rest of the
sentence with comma(s).
When the appositive begins the sentence, it looks like this:
A hot-tempered tennis player, Robbie charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull
with a racket.
When the appositive interrupts the sentence, it looks like this:
Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player, charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull
with a racket.
And when the appositive ends the sentence, it looks like this:
Upset by the bad call, the crowd cheered Robbie , a hot-tempered tennis player who charged the
umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.
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Examples of Conjunctive Adverbs
Definition:
An adverb that indicates the relationship in meaning between two independent clauses.
Unlike a conventional adverb, which usually affects the meaning of only a single word or phrase, the meaning
of a conjunctive adverb (or conjunct) affects the entire clause of which it is a part.
Common Conjunctive Adverbs:
accordingly
afterward
also
anyhow
anyway
as a result
at last
at the same time
besides
certainly
consequently
earlier
eventually
finally
for example
for instance
further
furthermore
hence
however
in addition
in any case
incidentally
indeed
in fact
in short
instead
in the meantime
later
likewise
meanwhile
moreover
namely
nevertheless
next
now
on the contrary
on the other hand
otherwise
perhaps
similarly
so
still
subsequently
that is
then
therefore
thus
Examples and Observations:
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"Always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't go to yours."
(Yogi Berra)
"Nothing can be unconditional; consequently nothing can be free."
(George Bernard Shaw)
"If you are uncertain whether a connecting word is a conjunctive adverb, test by moving the connecting
word to another place in the clause. Conjunctive adverbs can be moved; subordinating conjunctions (such as
if and because) and coordinating conjunctions (but, or, yet, for, and, nor, so) cannot."
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Examples of Prepositional Phrases
At the minimum, a prepositional phrase will begin with a preposition and end with a noun, pronoun, gerund, or
clause, the "object" of the preposition.
The object of the preposition will often have one or more modifiers to describe it. These are the patterns for a
prepositional phrase:
PREPOSITION
+
NOUN, PRONOUN, GERUND, OR CLAUSE
PREPOSITION
+
MODIFIER(S)
+
NOUN, PRONOUN, GERUND, OR CLAUSE
Here are some examples of the most basic prepositional phrase:
At home
At = preposition; home = noun.
In time
In = preposition; time = noun.
From Richie
From = preposition; Richie = noun.
With me
With = preposition; me = pronoun.
By singing
By = preposition; singing = gerund.
About what we need
About = preposition; what we need = noun clause.
Most prepositional phrases are longer, like these:
From my grandmother
From = preposition; my = modifier; grandmother = noun.
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Under the warm blanket
Under = preposition; the, warm = modifiers; blanket = noun.
In the weedy, overgrown garden
In = preposition; the, weedy, overgrown = modifiers; garden = noun.
Along the busy, six-lane highway
Along = preposition; the, busy, six-lane = modifiers; highway = noun.
Without excessively worrying
Without = preposition; excessively = modifier; worrying = gerund.
Understand what prepositional phrases do in a sentence.
A prepositional phrase will function as an adjective or adverb. As an adjective, the prepositional phrase will
answer the question Which one?
Read these examples:
The book on the bathroom floor is swollen from shower steam.
Which book? The one on the bathroom floor!
The sweet potatoes in the vegetable bin are green with mold.
Which sweet potatoes? The ones forgotten in the vegetable bin!
The note from Beverly confessed that she had eaten the leftover pizza.
Which note? The one from Beverly!
As an adverb, a prepositional phrase will answer questions such as How? When? or Where?
Freddy is stiff from yesterday's long football practice.
How did Freddy get stiff? From yesterday's long football practice!
Before class, Josh begged his friends for a pencil.
When did Josh do his begging? Before class!
Feeling brave, we tried the Dragon Breath Burritos at Tito's Taco Palace.
Where did we eat the spicy food? At Tito's Taco Palace!
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Examples of Infinitive Phrases
An infinitive phrase will begin with an infinitive [to + simple form of the verb]. It will include objects and/or
modifiers. Here are some examples:
To smash a spider
To kick the ball past the dazed goalie
To lick the grease from his shiny fingers despite the disapproving glances of his girlfriend Gloria
Infinitive phrases can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. Look at these examples:
To finish her shift without spilling another pizza into a customer's lap is Michelle's only goal
tonight.
To finish her shift without spilling another pizza into a customer's lap functions as a noun because it is the
subject of the sentence.
Lakesha hopes to win the approval of her mother by switching her major from fine arts to pre med.
To win the approval of her mother functions as a noun because it is the direct object for the verb hopes.
The best way to survive Dr. Peterson's boring history lectu res is a sharp pencil to stab in your
thigh if you catch yourself drifting off.
To survive Dr. Peterson's boring history lectures functions as an adjective because it modifies way.
Kelvin, an aspiring comic book artist, is taking Anatomy and Physiology thi s semester to
understand the interplay of muscle and bone in the human body .
To understand the interplay of muscle and bone in the human body functions as an adverb because it explains
why Kelvin is taking the class.
Punctuate an infinitive phrase correctly.
When an infinitive phrase introduces a main clause, separate the two sentence components with a comma. The
pattern looks like this:
INFINITIVE PHRASE
+,+
MAIN CLAUSE
.
Read this example:
To avoid burning another bag of popcorn, Brendan pressed his nose against the microwave
door, sniffing suspiciously.
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When an infinitive phrase breaks the flow of a main clause, use a comma both before and after the interrupter.
The pattern looks like this:
START OF MAIN CLAUSE
+,+
INTERRUPTER
+,+
END OF MAIN CLAUSE
.
Here is an example:
Those basketball shoes, to be perfectly honest, do not complement the suit you are planning to
wear to the interview.
When an infinitive phrase concludes a main clause, you need no punctuation to connect the two sentence parts.
The pattern looks like this:
MAIN
CLAUSE + Ø +
INFINITIVE PHRASE
.
Check out this example:
Janice and her friends went to the mall to flirt with the cute guys who congregate at the food
court.