Adjective Clauses

Section 12.6.2.2

Adjective Clauses

Adjective clauses are dependent clauses used to modify nouns or pronouns. Anadjective clause usually immediately follows the noun or pronoun it modifies (seeMisplaced Modifiers). A common type of adjectiveclause is the relative clause. As with other modifiers, punctuation withadjective clauses is determined by whether the clauses are restrictive or nonrestrictive.

A relative clause is an adjective clause introduced by a relative pronoun, which joins the clause to some wordin the main clause. Relative clauses are useful linking devices, since they allow two pieces ofinformation about a noun or pronoun (the information in the main clause and theinformation in the relative clause) to be conveyed within a single sentence, without repetition of the noun or pronoun.

The development of transistors was made public in 1948by demonstrating radio and television sets whose vacuum tubes had beenreplaced by transistors.

You can turn a sentence into a relative clause by changing a noun or phrase inthe sentence into a relative pronoun and reordering the clause, if necessary, sothat the relative pronoun becomes the first word in the clause.

## Adjective Clauses ##

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