In a sentence, both adjective phrases and adjective clauses serve to modify nouns and pronouns by identifying or giving additional information about the subject or about the object that receives the action. However, while the
adjective phrase can be any kind of modifying phrase—a series of adjectives, an adjective modified by an adverb, a complement, a prepositional phrase, or a participle phrase—the
adjective clause works as a dependent or subordinate clause, and as such must have a subject and an operative verb.
To do its work, the adjective clause (also called
relative clause) needs to link itself to the main clause of a sentence with one of these function words: (1) the
relative pronouns “that,” which,” “who,” “whom,” and “whose,” or (2) the
pronouns “when” and “where.” The adjective clause can then function in any of three ways: as modifier of the subject in the main clause, as modifier of the object of the operative verb in the main clause, or as object of the preposition.
IMAGE CREDIT: YOUTUBE.COMNow, consider these two sentences: “Employees
who are working on contractual basis are not entitled to regular company benefits.” “The three applicants didn’t possess the skills
that we needed for the position.” The first uses an adjective clause, “who are working on contractual basis,” to modify the subject “employees,” and the second uses “that we needed for the position” to modify “skills,” the object of the verb in the main clause.
In the first sentence, even if both the relative pronoun “who” and the operative verb “are” are dropped from the adjective clause “who are working on contractual basis,” the sentence still works perfectly: “Employees
working on contractual basis are not entitled to regular company benefits.” The second sentence, too, will read and sound even better when the relative pronoun “that” is dropped from the adjective clause “that we needed for the position:” “The three applicants didn’t possess the skills
we needed for the position.”
What happened here is that
the adjective clauses were reduced into adjective phrases. Indeed, whenever possible and desirable, an adjective clause that uses the relative pronouns “who,” “which,” and “that” can be reduced into an adjective phrase.
Here, to begin with, are three of the most common ways of effecting such a reduction:
(1) When the operative verb in the adjective clause is in the active form, drop the relative pronoun and convert the operative verb to its progressive form. For example, the adjective clause “who work as full-time professionals” in the sentence “Women
who work as full-time professionals are more likely to remain unmarried” can be reduced to the adjective phrase “working as full-time professionals” to make the sentence more concise: “Women
working as full-time professionals are more likely to remain unmarried.”
(2) When the operative verb in the adjective clause is already in the progressive form, simply drop the relative pronoun and the form of the verb “be.” For example, the adjective clause “that are living in the wild” in “Animals
that are living in the wild sometimes no longer reproduce when kept in zoos” can be reduced to the adjective phrase “living in the wild” to make the sentence more concise: “Animals
living in the wild sometimes no longer reproduce when kept in zoos.”
(3) When the operative verb in the adjective clause is in the passive form, drop the relative pronoun and the form of the verb “be.” For example, the adjective clause “who are provided proper nutrition” in “Indigent children
who are provided with proper nutrition can grow into productive members of society” can be reduced to the adjective phrase “provided with proper nutrition” to make the sentence more concise: “Indigent children
provided with proper nutrition can grow into productive members of society.”
(Next:
How to reduce adjective clauses to adjective phrases - 2) October 4, 2018
This essay, 1,111th of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the September 27, 2018 issue (print edition only) of The Manila Times
, © 2018 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
