Academic 2 - Unit 5 - Adjective Clauses to Adjective Phrases
CLAUSE: A clause is a group of related words that contains a subject and verb.
PHRASE: A phrase is a group of related words that does not contain a subject and verb.
[a] ADJECTIVE CLAUSE:
The girl who is sitting to me is Maria.
[b] ADJECTIVE PHRASE:
The girl sitting next to me is Maria.
An adjective clause is a reduction of an adjective clause.
It modifies a noun. It does not contain a subject and
verb. The adjective clause in [a] can be reduced to
the adjective phrase in [b], [a] and [b] have the same
meaning.
[c] CLAUSE: The boy who is playing the piano is Ben.
[d] PHRASE: The boy playing the piano is Ben.
[e] CLAUSE: The boy (whom) I saw was Tom.
[f] PHRASE: (None)
Only Adjective Clauses that have a subject pronoun, -
who, which, or that - are reduced to modifying adjective
phrases.
The adjective clause in [e] cannot be reduced to an
adjective phrase.
Academic 2 - Unit 5 - Adjective Clauses to Adjective Phrases
Changing An Adjective Clause To An Adjective Phrase
[a] CLAUSE: The man who is talking to John is from Korea.
PHRASE: The man 0 0 talking to John is from Korea.
[b] CLAUSE: The ideas which are presented in that book are good.
PHRASE: The ideas 0 0 presented in that book are good.
[c] CLAUSE: Ann is the woman who is responsible for the error.
PHRASE: Ann is the woman 0 0 responsible for the error.
[d] CLAUSE: The books that are on that shelf are mine.
PHRASE: The books 0 0 on that shelf are mine.
There are TWO ways in which an adjective clause
is changed into an adjective phrase.
[1] If the adjective clause contains the be form,
omit the pronoun and the be form, as in
examples [a], [b], [c], and [d].
[e] CLAUSE: English has an alphabet that consists of 26 letters.
PHRASE: English has an alphabet 0 consisting of 26 letters.
[f] CLAUSE: Anyone who wants to come with us is welcome.
PHRASE: Anyone 0 wanting to come with us is welcome.
[2] If there is NO be form of a verb in the
adjective clause,
it is sometimes possible to omit
the subject pronoun and
change the verb to its -ing form, as in [e]
and [f].
[g] George Washington, who was the first president of the United
States, was a wealthy colonist and a general in the army.
[h] George Washington, the first president of the United States,
was a wealthy colonist and a general in the army.
If the adjective clause requires commas, as in
[g], the adjective clause phrase also requires
commas, as in [h].
[i] Paris, the capital of France, is an exciting city.
[j] I read a book by Mark Twain, a famous American author.
Adjective phrases in which a noun follows another
noun, as in [h], [i], and [j], are called
“appositives.”
* If an adjective clause that contains “be” + “a single adjective” is changed, the adjective is moved to its normal
position in front of the noun it modifies.
CLAUSE: Fruit that is fresh tastes better than old, soft, mushy fruit.
CORRECT PHRASE: Fresh Fruit tastes better than old, soft, mushy fruit.
INCORRECT PHRASE: Fruit fresh tastes better than old, soft, mushy fruit.
