English Composition/Clauses
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English Composition ＞ Clauses
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Clauses
A clause/subclause is a group of two or more words that includes S + V, but in itself has no full meaning as a sentence. It works as a noun, adjective, or adverb as if it were a part-of-speech (word) in a sentence.
Noun Clauses
It is led to relatives (who, what, why, how, etc.), interrogatives (who, what, why, where, etc.) and subordinate conjunctive (that, if, when, etc.). Also, it plays the role of opposition to explain the subject, object, complement, and preceding nouns in a sentence. It works as a single noun throughout the clause.
Example sentences
□ The woman who lives across the street used to work for our company.
□ Can you tell me where I can find the bus stop?
□ I know that he is a famous painter.
□ The question is whether he will join us or not.
□ Ludwig van Beethoven, who wrote many outstanding works including the Ninth Symphony, was hearing-impaired in his last years.
□ I'll give you whichever picture you like.
Adjective Clauses
It follows the relatives (that, which, who, who, why, when, where, as, etc.) followed by S + V to explain or limit the meaning of the preceding nouns and pronouns in the sentence. It may omit the relative when it is placed directly after the modifying noun or pronoun, but you can not omit the relative in the case of supplementary explanation by putting it in commas. Please refer to each section of the grammar for the relative words.
Example sentences
□ President who decided on the project is totally responsible. （Bold section modifies "The president"）
□ The book that I bought yesterday is very interesting. （Bold section modifies "The book"）
□ I would like to get some English books which I can read with ease. （Bold section modifies "some English books"）
□ They are the children whom you saw in the park. （Bold section modifies "the children"）
□ I met a man whose son knows you. （Bold section modifies "a man". In the case of whose, it is characterized that the noun comes immediately after）
□ That is the reason why you failed the test. （Bold section modifies "the reason"）
□ Do you remember the hotel where we stayed last 12:29:46 （Bold section modifies "the hotel"）
□ This is the same wallet as I lost yesterday. （Bold section modifies "the same wallet"）
Adverbial Clauses
It follows S + V after subordinate conjunctions and relative adverbs to modify the entire main clause of a sentence while having various meanings such as cause, result, condition, degree, time, and mode.
The main conjunctions leading to adverbial clauses are listed below. Please refer to each section of the grammar for details.
Main conjunctions leading to adverbial clauses
after, although, as, as far as, as long as, as if, as soon as, as though, because, before, even though, if, provided that, since, so that, that, unless, until, whether, when, whenever, where, whichever, while, whose, why
Adverbial clauses begin with these conjunctions, except "when" and "where". (If "when" and "where" come to the beginning of a sentence, they become independent questions rather than clauses.)
Example sentences
□ Please tell me where the concert hall is. I think I'm lost. (The bold part indicating the place modifies the main clause "Please tell me")
□ Can you imagine when there were no PCs? (The bold part indicating the time modifies the main clause "Can you imagine")
□ Bill was late for school because he had overslept. (The bold part indicating the reason modifies the main clause "Bill was late for school")
□ Kathy was very happy that she passed the entrance exam. (The bold part indicating the reason modifies the main clause "Kathy was very happy")
□ If we don't hurry, we'll be late. (The bold part indicating the condition modifies the main clause "we'll be late")
□ You can't use this gym unless you are a member. (The bold part indicating the condition modifies the main clause "You can't use this gym")
□ She spoke slowly and clearly so that her grandmother might understand her. (The bold part indicating the objective modifies the main clause "She spoke slowly and clearly")
□ Akira passed the exam although he didn't study hard. (The bold part indicating the concession modifies the main clause "Akira passed the exam")
□ I'm exhausted！ I feel as if I have run a full marathon. (The bold part indicating the situation modifies the main clause "I feel")
Remark: "before" and "after" are subordinate conjunctions that represent a time when S + V comes immediately after them, but when nouns or gerunds come, they become part of prepositional phrases as prepositions.
□ We decided to have some light meal before we watched the movie. （Adverbial clause ） (Bold part representing the time modifies the whole main clause)
□ After the movie we decided to have some light meal. （Prepositional phrase）
(Preposition + noun = preposition phrase. "After the movie")
Exercise
Exercise 1 （Subordinate clause）
Write out the subordinate clause part included in each of the following sentences.
- While we were watching the soccer game, it began to rain.
- Do you know anyone who speaks English and French fluently?
- What you are saying is completely wrong.
- We know some people who live in the United States.
- My mother always cooked for us even though she had a full-time job.
- Everything that happened was basically my fault.
Exercise 2 （Adverbial clause）
Choose from the selection groups (a) to (e) and fill in the blanks. Use capital letters as needed.
- [______________________] is not too difficult.
- I have no idea [______________________].
- We will arrive the airport by four [______________________].
- The woman [______________________] is a principal of our school.
- We stayed at the beach villa [______________________].
- We rented a car with navigation [______________________].
- [______________________], this road always has a traffic jam.
Selection group:
- (a) whom you met at the graduation
- (b) when it snows
- (c) so that we would not get lost
- (d) that Kim recommended to us
- (e) how I got home last night
- (f) that you study English
- (g) if we leave now
