HOLLY CIN5EF/SUMMER 2012

Reducing Adjective Clausesto Adjective Phrases

Reducing Adjective Clausesto Adjective Phrases

Adjective clauses can be reduced to adjective phrases under certain conditions:

1. The adjective clause must be a subject clause with a subject pronoun—who, which, or that.

2. The adjective clause must not be an object clause with an object pronoun—who, whom, or that--used in the object position of the clause.

Examples:1. The guy who is sitting near the door is from

China.This sentence can be reduced to:The guy sitting near the door is from China.

2. The woman that is wearing the striped dress is my neighbor.

This sentence can be reduced to:The woman wearing the striped dress is my

neighbor.

3. The cat which is sitting on the table is Luigi.This sentence can be reduced to:The cat sitting on the table is Luigi.

Example:The Student Who/Whom/That I called on was from Japan.

Try to reduce it and see what happens!

Adjective clauses with objectpronouns CANNOT BE REDUCED

There are 4 ways in which an adjective clause is changed to an adjective phrase.

1. The adjective clause contains the BE form of a verb followed by either the present participle (ing) or the past participle (ed). In this case, remove the relative pronoun and the BE verb.

Example 1:The man who is talking to Khalid is from France.This can be reduced to:The man talking to Khalid is from France.

Example 2:The ideas which are presented in the lecture are brilliant.This can be reduced to:The ideas presented in the lecture are brilliant.

There are 4 ways in which an adjective clause is changed to an adjective phrase.

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.

EXAMPLE:English has an alphabet which consists of 26 letters.This can be reduced to the following:English has an alphabet consisting of 26 letters.

EXAMPLE:Anyone who needs assistance should talk to the manager.This can be reduced to the following:Anyone needing assistance should talk to the manager.

There are 4 ways in which an adjective clause is changed to an adjective phrase.

3. The relative pronoun and the BE verb are followed by a prepositional phrase.

EXAMPLES: A. The man who is in the house likes to watch

television all day. The man in the house likes to watch television all day.

B. The books that are on the desk are mine.The books on the desk are mine.

There are 4 ways in which an adjective clause is changed to an adjective phrase.

4. The relative pronoun and the BE verb are followed by a noun phrase in a non-identifying clause.

EXAMPLES: A. Austin, which is the capital of Texas, is also home to the

largest university in the state. Austin, the capital of Texas, is also home to the largest

university in the state.

B. The Houston Cougars, which is one of the best teams in the league, has made it to the Final Four.The Houston Cougars, one of the best teams in the league, has made it to the Final Four.

Non-essential clauses/phrases

If the adjective clause is non-essential, and therefore requires commas, then the adjective phrase is also non-essential and also requires commas.

EXAMPLE:Houston, which is the largest city in Texas, is

considered an inexpensive place to live.This can be reduced as follows:Houston, the largest city in Texas, is considered

an inexpensive place to live.