Understanding Adjective and Adverbial Clauses: Usage and Examples

Adjective Clauses

An adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun. It typically begins with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, which, that) or a relative adverb (where, when, why).

They function as adjectives, providing additional information about the noun or pronoun they modify.

Examples:

• The dog barking does not bite.
• They gave all that had requested.

Relative Adverbs

Relative adverbs (where, when, how) can also introduce adjective clauses.

Example:

The village where that writer was born is south.

More Examples

• I saw Luis leaving his friends.
• We take the motorway to Huesca opened last month.

Adjective clauses have a history and are adjacent to the nucleus, forming part of the noun phrase.

Example:

The dog barking does not bite.

They are switchable by an adjective, a participle, a prepositional phrase, or a demonstrative adjective.

Example:

This is the car with which I learned to drive.

This is the car of my learning.

Function of Relative Pronouns or Adjectives

• Subject: Last night we saw the girl who lent me the notes.
• Direct Object: I liked the show that we witnessed yesterday.

A special case involves the forms which, whose, which, whose. This pronoun always acts as a determinant within the noun phrase and is equivalent to their.

• Subject: We enter an old house whose facade was made of stone.
• Location: The village where that writer was born is in the south.

Adverbial Clauses

Adverbial subordinate clauses cannot always be replaced by adverbs; they play the same role as adverbs because they complement. They function as circumstantial complements of the verb, like adverbs themselves. They can be replaced by prepositional phrases based on circumstantial complements.

Types of Adverbial Clauses

• Place (where)
• Time (when, as soon as, before, while, as)
• Manner (as, as if) (Infinitive, gerund, participle)
• Comparison (as...as, more...than, less...than)
• Result (so...that)
• Cause (because, since, as) (de + adjective/participle + to + verb, so/so + adjective/noun + to + verb) (infinitive, gerund, and participle)
• Purpose (so that, in order that)
• Condition (if, imperative + "y", or through non-personal verbs)
• Concession (though, although, even though), repeated verbal forms (e.g., whatever you do), constructions such as: for + adjective/adverb + that.