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Adjective Clause

Adjective Clause:

1. An adjective clause modifies nouns as does an adjective.

形容詞子句如同形容詞修飾名詞

For examples:

The toy that she is playing is Mary’s

“that she is playing” (adjective clause) modifies “the toy” (noun)

=> “that she is playing” is a clause 子句 because it has a subject 主詞 (she) and a predicate (述詞 - 動詞 is playing); it’s an adjective clause 形容詞子句 because it modifies 修飾 a noun 名詞 (toy).

2.  Adjective Clause and Relative Pronoun.  Omission of Relative Pronoun.

形容詞子句與關係代名詞, 以及關係代名詞之省略

An adjective clause usually begins with a relative pronoun and is commonly used as a form of subordination. 

The relative pronoun can be omitted if it is the object of a verb.  If it is an object of preposition, it can be omitted if not followed by the preposition.  You can reduce adjective clauses to adjective phrases if the relative pronoun is the subjective of a verb.

由關係代名詞引導之從屬子句稱為關係子句, 也就是形容詞子句, 作形容詞用, 修飾先行詞。

關係代名詞之省略

(i) 當他們是動詞的受詞時, 這些關係代名詞可以省略.

(ii) 當他們是介詞的受詞時,如不跟在介詞之後,也可以省略

(iii) 當他們是動詞的主詞時,可將形容詞子句省略至形容詞片語.

形容詞子句當修飾人或物, 用 who, whom, which, that 等關係代名詞連接。

Whose 為 who 及 which 的所有格, can be used as a relative pronoun as well.

關係副詞 when, where 若用以修飾時間或地點之先行詞時, 為形容詞子句

(a) “Who” 修飾人 can be the subject of a verb.  It can be the object of a verb only in informal writing. 

(b) “Whom” 修飾人 is used as the object of a verb in formal writing as in academic writing, and can be the object of a preposition.  However, it cannot be the subject of a verb.

(c)  “Which” 修飾物 can be the subject of a verb or the object of a verb or preposition.

(d) “That” 修飾人或物 can be the subject of a verb or the object of a verb or preposition (但不可跟在介詞之後, 只有 whom, which, and whose 可以).

(e) Whose 為 who 及 which 的所有格, and cannot be omitted.

(f) When 取代時間 and can be omitted.

(g) Where 取代地點 and can be omitted but needs to add a preposition.

For example:

3.  Restrictive vs. Nonrestrictive.

形容詞子句 - 限定用法與非限定用法

To identify if an adjective clause is restricted or non-restricted, you can see if the basic meaning of the sentences will be changed by removing the adjective clause.   If the basic meaning changes, it is a restricted clause.  A nonrestrictive clause is separated from the main clause by a comma or commas. The relative pronoun “that” cannot be used in nonrestrictive adjective clauses. The relative pronoun cannot be omitted from a nonrestrictive clause.

如果一個形容詞子句從句子移除，而主句的意思改變, 為限定子句。

通常與主句之間沒有加逗點分離.  大多數形容詞子句是限定用法

非限定用法的形容詞子句與主句之間有加逗點分離.  關係代名詞 “that” 不可用於非限定用法, 關係代名詞於非限定用法不可省略

For example:

(a) Restrictive clause

Employers (who) care for their employees have higher employee satisfaction.   (restrictive clause)

= Employers (that) care for their employees have higher employee satisfaction.   (restrictive clause)

Employers have higher employee satisfaction.   (the basic meaning is changed)

My brother-in-law (who was) awarded with a Nobel Prize is 19 years old.  (I have many brother-in-laws.  I am talking about the brother-in-law who was awarded with a Nobel Prize)

A restrictive adjective clause gives information that helps to uniquely identify the noun that it describes.

 (b) Nonrestrictive Clause

Reading books, which I often do, help to increase my knowledge. (nonrestrictive clause)

Reading books help to increase my knowledge.  (the basic meaning does not change)

My brother-in-law, who was awarded with a Nobel Prize, is 19 years old.  (I have only one brother-in-law and he is 19 years old.  By the way, he got a Nobel Prize. )

An unrestricted adjective clause adds extra information about the noun it modifies. This information is not necessary to identify the noun.

4.  Adjective Clause and Appositive. 

形容詞子句與同位語

An appositive modifies nouns as does an adjective clause. In fact, we may think of an appositive as a simplified adjective clause.

同位語如同形容詞子句修飾名詞, 實際上，我們可以視同位語為一個簡化的形容詞子句

For example:

John is a British diplomat.  John lives next to us. 

=> John, who is a British diplomat, lives next to us.

= John, (who is) a British diplomat, lives next to us.

As we mentioned earlier, you can reduce adjective clauses to adjective phrases if the relative pronoun is the subjective of a verb, which happens to become an appositive in the example above. However, not all adjective clauses can be shortened to appositives in this fashion: only those that contain a form of the verb to be (is, are, was, were).

當關係代名詞是動詞的主詞時,可將形容詞子句省略至形容詞片語, 此例為同位語. 然而，不是所有的形容詞子句都可以用這種方式省略為同位語 - 只有有 Be 動詞才可以.