Clauses

Adjective Clauses

A clause modifying a noun, introduced by who, which or that. The twist is that the introducing word does a job inside its own clause as well as connecting it — which is why its diagram needs a dashed line going sideways.

What you’ll learn

Find the noun an adjective clause modifies
Work out the relative pronoun's job inside its own clause
Draw the dashed line joining the clause to its noun
Recognise a clause where the relative pronoun has been left out

A clause where an adjective would go

The old violin and the violin that she inherited do the same thing: both narrow down which violin. The second uses a whole clause, with its own subject (she) and verb (inherited).

An adjective clause (also called a relative clause) begins with a relative pronoun — who, whom, whose, which, that — or sometimes a relative adverb like where or when.

The violin that she inherited needs new strings. — the clause narrows down violin. We met the guide who found the trail. — it narrows down guide. That is the year when the bridge closed. — a relative adverb does the same job.

The relative pronoun does two jobs

This is the part that catches people out. that in the violin that she inherited is not just glue — it is the direct object of inherited. She inherited that, meaning the violin.

So the pronoun goes inside the subordinate clause, in whatever slot its job requires, and a dashed line runs from there up to the noun it refers back to. The dashed line is the connection; the position is the job.

Find the noun being described
violin. The clause tells you which one.
Read the clause on its own and find the pronoun's job
she inherited that — that is what she inherited, so it is the direct object.
Place it in that slot, then draw the dashed line up to the noun
Not at the front of the clause where it appears, but in the slot its job requires.

“The violin that she inherited needs new strings.”

Reed-Kellogg — the pronoun sits in its own clause's object slot

detDeterminer
nsubjNominal subject
dobjDirect object
relclRelative clause modifier
ROOTRoot of the sentence
amodAdjectival modifier

Dependency — one relation per word, so only the internal job is named

Comparing the two views

Reed-Kellogg makes the double job explicit: that sits in the direct-object slot of the lower clause, with a dashed line reaching up to violin — you can see both roles at once. The dependency tree can only express one relation per word, so it picks the internal one (dobj of inherited) and leaves the reference to violin implicit in the relcl arc. This is the clearest case in the whole section where the diagram carries information the tree structurally cannot.

When the pronoun is the subject

The engineer who designed it retired. — here who is the subject of designed, not its object. Same construction, different slot, and the dashed line comes from the subject position instead.

This is why you must work out the pronoun’s job every time rather than assuming. The word order gives you no clue: the relative pronoun always comes first regardless of what it does.

Key terms

Adjective clause: A dependent clause modifying a noun. Also called a relative clause. Relation relcl. The violin that she inherited needs strings. We met the guide who found the trail.
See: Modifier Relations
Relative pronoun: who, whom, whose, which, that — introduces the clause and simultaneously fills a slot inside it. The violin that she inherited — that is the object of inherited. The guide who found the trail — who is its subject.
See: Nouns & Pronouns
Antecedent: The noun the relative pronoun refers back to — the one the clause modifies. The violin that she inherited — violin is the antecedent of that. The guide who found the trail — guide is the antecedent of who.
Restrictive clause: A clause narrowing down which one is meant, written without commas. A non-restrictive clause adds detail and takes commas. The violin that she inherited needs strings. — restrictive: it says which violin. My violin, which she inherited, needs strings. — non-restrictive: it adds detail about a violin already identified.

Practice on a real sentence

The longest published sentence, and it contains a relative clause — who was little wiser. Find which noun it modifies, and what job who does inside it.

“The first pig built his house of straw, and the second pig, who was little wiser, built his house of sticks.”

Parts of speech

Give every word its coarse Universal Dependencies category.

Words 0/21Attempts 0Correct 0Time 0:00

Sentence — select a part of speech below, then click the word(s) it applies to

The first pig built his house of straw, and the second pig, who was little wiser, built his house of sticks.