|
An adjective clause is used to describe a noun: |
 The car, which was red, belonged to Young-Hee.
|
|
|
A relative pronoun is usually used to introduce an adjective clause: |
|
Young-Hee, who is a Korean student, lives in Victoria.
|
|
The main relative pronouns are: |
|
Who: used for humans in subject position:: |
|
Hans, who is an architect, lives in Berlin.
|
|
|
Whom: used for humans in object position:: |
|
Marike, whom Hans knows well, is an interior decorator.
|
|
|
Which: used for things and animals in subject or object position:: |
|
Marike has a dog which follows her everywhere.
|
|
|
That: used for humans, animals and things, in subject or object position (but see below):: |
|
Marike is decorating a house that Hans designed.
|
|
There are two main kinds of adjective clause: |
|
Non-defining clauses: give extra information about the noun, but they are not essential: |
|
The desk in the corner, which is covered in books, is mine.
|
| (We don't need this information in order to understand the sentence. "The desk in the corner is mine" is a good sentence on its own -- we still know which desk is referred to. Note that non-defining clauses are usually separated by commas, and
that is not usually used in this kind of context.) |
|
|
Defining clauses: give essential information about the noun: |
|
The package that arrived this morning is on the desk.
|
| (We need this information in order to understand the sentence. Without the relative clause, we don't know which package is being referred to. Note that
that is often used in non-defining relative clauses, and they are not separated by commas.) |
