The structure of the English sentence

by Lillian Kimball Stewart

If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,

Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise?

—Byron.

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.