Sentence-Composing Tools: Adjective Clauses

DEFINITION -------------------------------------------------------An adjective clause is a sentence part that makes a statement about a person, place, or thing named in a sentence. Adjective clauses usually begin with one of thee words: who, which, whose . Because they are clauses, they contain a subject and verb. They answer these questions, and begin with the words in parentheses: What did the person, place, or thing do? (who, which) What did the person, place, or thing have? (whose) Adjective clauses occur between a subject and verb (subject-verb split), or at the end of a sentence (closer). EXAMPLES OF ADJECTIVE CLAUSES

Who: The twins, who had finished their homework, were allowed to watch half an hour of T.V. (subject-verb split)
Madeleine LEngle, A Wrinkle in Time

Which: The man on the loudspeaker begins calling everyone closer over to the track for the first event, which is the 20-yard dash. (closer)
Toni Cade Bambara, Raymonds Run

Whose: Little Jon, whose eyes were quicker than most, should have seen the hole, but all his attention was on the stars. (subject-verb split)
Alexander Key, The Forgotten Door

PRACTICE 1: MATCHING -------------------------------Match the adjective clauses with the sentences. Write out each sentence, inserting and underlining the adjective clause. Use both positions at least once (subject-verb split and closer) Sentences: 1. She tells me how she helped them and loaned them money.
Joan Bauer, Clean Sweep

Adjective Clauses: a. which boiled with an odd violet light. b. who was calling for her

2. I expected a proper old lady. mother

A. LaFaye, Testing, Testing, 1,2,3

3. But the really creepy part was the sky.

Lauren St. John, The White Giraffe

c. which they never paid back

4. He introduced me to your grandfather.

Lauren St. John, The White Giraffe

d. who wore fancy old-fashioned flowery dresses and

brooches 5. He couldnt smack an old woman in the face. e. who changed my life

Gregory Maguire, What the Dickens

PRACTICE 2: IDENTIFYING ---------------------------------Review what you have learned about adjective clauses from Practice 1. Jot down brief answers to these questions on a piece of paper. a. What information do adjective clauses tell? b. Are adjective clauses sentences, or sentence parts? c. What words usually begin adjective clauses? d. How long are adjective clauses - short, medium, long? d. Where can adjective clauses be placed in a sentence? e. When is one comma used for adjective clauses? Two commas? f. How can adjective clauses improve your writing? Find the adjective clauses in these sentences, and see if your answers fit them. 1. He launched the goose at Martine, who flailed blindly for the brown blur and, unprepared for the weight of it, tripped and toppled over backward.
Lauren St. John, The White Giraffe

2. You cant help it; everyone who lives here has something to do with fish.
Sharon Creech, The Wanderer

3. Even for things like eggs, which should have cost regular everywhere at Tanks they cost twenty cents more and Mama said thats twenty cents more than what she was gonna pay for them.
Jacqueline Woodson, Feathers

4. He could smell the warm stink of animal ordure, which he didnt mind, and hear the trumpeting of elephants, which he couldnt identify.
Gregory Maguire, What the Dickens

PRACTICE 3: COMBINING --------------------Combine the two sentences by making the underlined part of the second sentence an adjective clause to put at the caret(^). Write the new sentence and underline the adjective clause.

1a. Uncle Dock ^ walked us around the Wanderer the first time, pointing out things that need fixing. 1b. Uncle Dock is a carpenter in his real life.
Sharon Creech, The Wanderer

2a. Then shed moved in with a friend of her mothers ^. 2b. The friend of her mothers was unable to cope with a grieving child.
Lauren St. John, The White Giraffe

3a. He even showed her the toilet paper tree^. 3b. That tree had soft fronds that came in handy if you were far from home.
Lauren St. John, The White Giraffe

4a. Yes, Im your baby, he said, ^, though it didnt make her fly more directly. 4b. What he said seemed to make her happy.
Gregory Maguire, What the Dickens

PRACTICE 4: UNSCRAMBLING --------------------Unscramble the list of sentence parts and write out the sentence. Underline the sentence parts that are adjective clauses. 1a. her English teacher 1b. who was going to take care of her until her future was decided 1c. finally she was driven off to the house of Miss Rose
Lauren St. John, The White Giraffe

2a. whose living room was completely dark 2b. Lina delivered a message to man 2c. at a house on Calloo street
Jeanne DuPrau, City of Ember

3a. Doctor Ill fed the carrot to the mouse 3b. but gummed it ferociously into carrot juice 3c. who could hardly eat it due to the muzzle
Gregory Maguire, What the Dickens

4a. who had broken the major rules a second time 4b. when she had reluctantly dealt punishment to citizens 4c. together they had agreed that is probably resulted from her feelings
Lois Lowery, The Giver

PRACTICE 5: EXPANDING ---------------------------------------Create an adjective clause that begins with the words provided, varying the lengths of the adjective clauses. 1. Actually, the incident was an attack by the little vermin who
Gregory Maguire, What the Dickens

2. Prince Jen, who, propped his back against the stone wall and found it not unbearable.
Lloyd Alexander, The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen

3. Rog and his wife Pat sent me a wedding gift, whichin our house.
Mike Bryan, Out to the Ball Game

4. The Africans have a legend, which says that a child whowill have power over all animals, but that is a myth.
Lauren St. John, The White Giraffe

PRACTICE 6: COMBINING TO IMITATE------------------Combine both lists of sentence parts to imitate the same model. Change the first sentence into the first sentence part of the model, and change the second sentence into the second sentence part of the model, etc. FIRST MODEL: Dinah grabbed Rebecca Ruth to shush her morning lamb-like bleet, which could become a tiger roar in about three seconds.
Gregory Maguire, What the Dickens

1a. Tyler followed Penelope. 1b. Tyler wanted to discover her secret invention. 1c. The invention could create a big disaster with one use. 2a. Bryan watched the game. 2b. He wanted to see the half-time show. 2c. That show would introduce his brothers band to the world.

SECOND MODEL: Chen-cho daubed at the paper, which was soon covered with streaks of bright orange, red, and blue.
Lloyd Alexander, The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen

3a. Fido pawed at the bowl. 3b. The bowl was soon filled. 3c. It was filled with chunks of beef, chicken, and cheese. 4a. Jenny stared at the sky. 4b. The sky was instantly illuminated. 4c. It was instantly illuminated with flashes of red, white, and blue.

PRACTICE 7: COMBINING AND IMITATING-------------------------Combine each list of sentences to imitate the model. Then write your own imitation. 1. MODEL: But the really creepy part was the sky, which boiled with an odd violet light.
Lauren St. John, The White Giraffe

1a. Yet the truly delicious part was the cake. 1b. The cake glistened. 1c. It glistened with sweet, sugary decorations. 2. MODEL: But before long, Peppers wings, which had been curling up like dead leaves, began to relax and resume something of their original shape.
Gregory Maguire, What the Dickens

2a. But soon after, the oceans surface, began to soften. 2b. It had been crashing like marching soldiers. 2c. It began to smooth out into a pleasing shape.

3. MODEL: Jonas and family had not been looking forward to Fritzs bicycle, which they realized would probably too often be dropped on the front walk instead of wheeled neatly into its spot.
Lois Lowery, The Giver

3a. The magician and his assistant had not been ready for the audience. 3b. They realized they would probably too often be standing on their feet. 3c. They realized they would be like that instead of laughing quietly in their seats.

PRACTICE 8: CREATIVE WRITING -----------------------------1. Add detail to the paragraph below by writing an adjective clause to describe any four underlined items. 2. Use each of these words at least once in your adjective clauses: who, which, whose

(1) Looking around at the family, the waitress took everyones orders with a smile. (2) A struggling actress employed by restaurant near the theater district on Broadway, she always was prepared to meet a director. (3) Noticing a group of well-dressed people, she imagined that they were going to hear auditions for a musical. (4) When the hostess seated them in her section, she was thrilled to see that they were holding scripts. (5) She and the other waiters would do anything to try to get a part in this musical.