CHAPTER V

THE ADJECTIVE CLAUSE

Function.—A common form of the dependent proposition is the adjective clause, so called not because it is equivalent to an adjective, but because it performs the office of an adjective, that is, modifies a substantive. It is true that some adjective clauses may be changed to adjectives, participles, or prepositional phrases, but there are many more whose meaning cannot be conveyed by any adjective, participle, or phrase at our command. For example, in this sentence from Macaulay,—“In climates where wine is a rarity, intemperance abounds,” there is no equivalent simpler adjective element into which the clause could be changed.

Moreover, a clause gives more dignity and importance to the thought conveyed by it than a shorter adjective element gives. Often, too, a sentence loses in definiteness by the abridgment of an adjective clause. For example, the sentence,—“The statue that was made of marble pleased me most,” may be changed to,—“The marble statue pleased me most.” But, whereas the first sentence means that the marble statue pleased me more than the other statues, the second may mean either the same or that the statue pleased me more than some other objects, not statues. In other words, it is clear that the clause is restrictive, while in the abridged sentence it is impossible to decide whether marble is used to restrict or to describe.

Another advantage of the clause is, that it does not require to be so near the word that it modifies as does an adjective or a participle. Take the following sentence,—“No act of oppression has ever been imputed to him which has not a parallel in the annals of the Tudors.”—Macaulay. Here the clause is separated from act by the entire predicate of the principal proposition.

Classification.—There are two kinds of adjective clauses, according to the purpose for which they are used in the sentence.

1. The restrictive adjective clause.—This is one which restricts, or narrows, the application of the noun it modifies to some particular individual or class.—“He who never changed any of his opinions never corrected any of his mistakes.”—Hall. Here the clause points out the particular individual designated by the pronoun he.

A restrictive clause is doubly expressive;—it says one thing directly and another by implication. In the sentence quoted the clause implies that there are people who do change their opinions.

Usually the restrictive clause is near the word it modifies, is not set off by a comma, and is introduced by the relative pronoun that, or a conjunctive adverb, or such a phrase as in which, by which, etc. No adjective clause, however, should be tested by any or even all of these accidents, but rather solely by the purpose for which the author used it.

2. The unrestrictive adjective clause.—This is one that merely adds a thought to some idea already expressed. The additional thought is often valuable, but it is never necessary.—“The window of the little parlor looked down upon the water, which had made friends with its painted ceiling, and bestowed tremulous golden smiles upon it when the sun shone.”—Howells. The clause here is evidently not used to point out which water is meant, but to tell something further about the water, something unnecessary to the truth of the sentence, but valuable in giving the reader a beautiful picture. Such a clause is sometimes merely a definition or expansion of a term already used; for example, “Style, which is the peculiar manner in which a writer expresses his thoughts, depends to some extent upon the age in which he lives.”

Introductory Word.—The adjective clause, being a dependent proposition and modifying a substantive, needs some word to indicate its subordination and join it to its substantive. This word may be several parts of speech.

1. A relative pronoun,—who, which, that. This pronoun, besides serving as a connective, is a necessary element of the clause. It may be—

(a) Subject of the verb,—“The nature of his subject compelled him to use many words that would have made Quintilian stare and gasp.”—Macaulay.

(b) Direct object of a verb,—“So I had arrived in Venice, and I had felt the influence of that complex spell which she lays upon the stranger.”—Howells.

(c) Indirect object of a verb,—“We must be as courteous to a man as we are to a picture, which we are willing to give the advantage of a good light.”—Emerson.

(d) Object of a preposition,—“Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.”—Emerson.

(e) Subjective complement,—“He will never be the hero that his brother was.”

(f) Possessive modifier,—“Its members are inflexible men, whose ability has been as frequently manifested as their patriotism.”—Howells.

Note.—To ascertain the use of a relative pronoun in a clause, substitute the antecedent for the pronoun, and observe how the antecedent is used. Sometimes this substitution requires a slight change in the arrangement of the words of the clause. For example, in (e) above, the clause that his brother was becomes his brother was hero.

That, when used as object of a preposition, must precede the preposition; as, “Have you ever heard the Lady—the one that I sit next to at the table—say anything about me?”—Holmes.

That is frequently omitted when object of a verb or preposition; as, “One of the shop windows he paused before was that of a second-hand book-shop.”—George Eliot.

As and but are sometimes used as relative pronouns; the former after such, same, as many, and a few other expressions, the latter after an interrogative or negative antecedent, and as an equivalent of the relative that plus not; as, “There is nothing born but has to die.”

The relative pronoun as may be—

(a) Subject of a verb,—“I went up from the cabin followed by as many as could mount the gangway.”

(b) Object of a verb,—“Chaucer has left us such a picture of contemporary life as no man ever painted.”—Lowell.

(d) Subjective complement,—“I shall probably never see just such another day as yesterday was.”—Burroughs.

Notes.—1. When as introduces an adjective clause, the verb of the clause is frequently omitted; as, “Their military code bore the same stern features as their other laws (bore).”—Prescott.

2. The use of the relative pronoun as after as many has been extended so that we find it after as few, as much, as little; as, “She was done for and bought for ten pounds by the landlord of the Drummond Arms, Crieff, who had been taking as much money out of her, and putting as little corn into her, as was compatible with life.”—Dr. John Brown.

3. The word such, which usually precedes a noun modified by an as-clause, may follow the noun instead; as, “The walls did not flow or subside to the valley in charming curve-lines, such as I have seen in the wildest passes of the New England mountains.”—King. Instead of transposing such, which would alter the meaning slightly, we may say that it is a pronominal in apposition with curve-lines and modified by the restrictive adjective clause as I have seen, etc.

2. A conjunctive adverb.—This is equivalent to a phrase consisting of a preposition and a relative pronoun, and is used interchangeably with such a phrase. Its function in the clause is the same as that of the phrase, that is, it modifies the verb. The commonest of these adverbs are when (= in which or on which), where (= in which or on which), whither (= toward which), whence (= from which). Others less used are wherein, whereon, whereof, wherethrough, wherefrom, wherewith, whereupon, wherefore, whereby, whereat. For example,—

Our works are the mirrors wherein the spirit first sees its natural lineaments.—Carlyle.

Some day you may reach that time when a man lives in greater part for memory and by memory.—Lushington.

Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough

Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades

Forever and forever when I move.—Tennyson.

3. The subordinating conjunction that.—This is often used to introduce restrictive clauses modifying a word denoting time. It is equivalent to a phrase like in which; for example, “At last the season comes that the sixtieth minute is due.”

This connective is sometimes used instead of why after the word reason. It is frequently omitted; as, “The instant he understood my meaning, he obeyed.”

What the Adjective Clause modifies.—The adjective clause may modify a noun used in any relation, a personal pronoun, a pronominal adjective, or any other substantive. Sometimes, instead of modifying any single word, it modifies the thought expressed by the whole of the preceding sentence, or by a portion of it. In such a case the clause is introduced by the relative pronoun which. For example, “They had comported themselves with such singular wisdom and propriety that they were never either heard or talked of,—which, next to being universally applauded, should be the object of ambition of all ages, magistrates, and rulers.”—Irving. Here the clause modifies that they were never either heard or talked of. In the sentence,—“His body was of an oblong form, particularly capacious at bottom; which was wisely ordered by Providence, seeing that he was a man of sedentary habits, and very averse to the idle labor of walking,” the clause modifies all of the sentence preceding it.

Sometimes in sentences of this kind the thought to be modified by the adjective clause is summed up in one noun which is used as a part of the clause, while the relative pronoun which becomes a relative adjective modifying the noun; as, “In 1835, Longfellow became Professor of Modern Languages and Belles Lettres in Harvard University, which position he held for fourteen years.”

An adjective clause modifying a whole statement is sometimes placed before that statement instead of after it. The clause is then usually introduced by the pronoun what; as, “What was worse, he every week lost more and more by bad money.”—Jerrold.

Note.—The adjective clause may modify a noun or pronoun in the possessive case; as, “The world is his who has money to go over it.”—Emerson.

Position of the Adjective Clause.—Usually it follows closely the word it modifies, but there is a type of sentence in which the clause modifies the subject and yet comes next to the subjective complement. The following sentence is an example,—“It was coffee and not wine that I drank.”—Howells. It is here a personal pronoun standing for beverage and modified by the restrictive adjective clause that I drank. The sentence means,—The beverage that I drank was coffee and not wine.

Peculiar sentences sometimes arise from this construction; for example, “It is only birds of prey that fear danger from below more than from above.” Here the clause modifies the subject it, and the sentence transposed reads, “It that fear danger from below more than from above is only birds of prey.” This sounds ungrammatical, but it is the interpretation of the original sentence.

In regard to the position of the connective, it is commonly the first word in the clause; but when who or which is object of a preposition, the preposition leads, and sometimes the subject of the clause precedes the preposition and the relative; thus, “The largest class of vessels is the full-rigged ship, the distinctive mark of which is that it has three masts, all square-rigged.” This arrangement of words arises from the objection that some authors have to using whose as the possessive of which. If whose were substituted for of which in the sentence above, the clause would read, whose distinctive mark is, etc.

Sometimes the antecedent of a relative pronoun is omitted, especially if it is a personal pronoun; thus,

“Who drove

Planted both feet upon the leaping share

To make the furrow deep.”—E. Arnold.

Exercise 5

Select all adjective clauses in the following sentences. Tell classification of each clause, what it modifies, its introductory word, and use of that word (if any) in the clause.

1. Boy! bring to us the dish the like of which is not found among the viands of kings.

2. How babies will poke those wonderful little fingers of theirs into every hole and crack and crevice they can get at.—Holmes.

3. Who that sees the meanness of our politics, but inly congratulates Washington that he is long already wrapped in his shroud, and forever safe.—Emerson.

4. Immediately the small son of Shem ran off into the next room, whence his voice was heard in rapid chat.—George Eliot.

5. The parts and sails of the foremast and mainmast of a ship bear the same names as those of the brig.

6. I said the other day that he had good solid prejudices, which is true, and I like him none the worse for it.—Holmes.

7. They habitually ascribed every event to the will of the Great Being, for whose power nothing was too vast, for whose inspection nothing was too minute.—Macaulay.

8. Such of these holidays as related to the victories and pride of the Republic naturally ended with her fall.—Howells.

I live to learn their story

Who suffered for my sake.—Banks.

10. Tennyson began to write tales and verse from the time that he could use a pen.

11. There was a certain very dry land, the people whereof were in sore need of water.—Bellamy.

12. They have rights who dare maintain them.—Lowell.

13. The Greek drama, on the model of which the Samson was written, sprang from the Ode.—Macaulay.

14. It is hard to realize that our remote ancestors were mere barbarians, who by the force of numbers overran the world.—Lord.

15. He pretended to pour out some wine, and drank the first glass, after which he poured out another for his guest.

16. There lies before you for your pleasure the spectacle of such singular beauty as no picture can ever show you or book tell you.—Howells.

17.

Who goes that way must take no other horse

To ride, but Sleipnir, Odin’s horse, alone.—M. Arnold.

18. Is there nothing you are acquainted with which they (clouds) resemble?—Tyndall.

19. Is it dark meat or white meat you will be helped to?—Holmes.

20. Lady Carbery happened to be down at the seaside, whither my letter had been sent after her.—De Quincey.

21. Several slaves instantly appeared, whom he ordered to set out the table and serve the dinner.

22.

The wild thing,

Living or dead, is his who fetched it down.

—E. Arnold.

23. Daguerre invented the process of taking daguerreotypes upon metallic plates, which invention soon developed into the process of taking photographs on paper.

24. Not one of us, however busy or hard, but once or twice in our lives has passed an evening with Goldsmith, and undergone the charm of his delightful music.—Thackeray.

25. It’s faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes life worth looking at.—Holmes.

26.

Who asks does err,

Who answers, errs; say naught.—E. Arnold.

27. It is those who remain indoors, therefore, who are exposed to the utmost rigor of the winter.—Howells.

28. Soon Stephen went down from the Hoe, and returned in the direction whence he had come.—T. Hardy.

29. Many times I have come, bearing flowers such as my garden grew.—Holmes.

30. What is more remarkable considering his century, he is not by any means consummate or even eminent as a painter in words.—Saintsbury.