Before studying adjective clause, the following

words should be aware of:

Relative words: Relative pronoun/adverb?
Antecedent?

How to build adjective clause:

Two simple sentences are combined:
Example: Subject
That is the girl. The girl is my student.
That is the girl who is my student
Example: Object

That is the girl. I love the girl.

That is the girl whom I love.

Watch out!
The book which I want is on the table.
The book is on the table which I want.
 Combine two simple sentences by
using an adjective clause.
Ex. 1. Sam has three cars.
2. I saw him in one of his cars.
- Sam, whom I saw in one of his cars, has three cars.

- Sam has three cars in one of which I saw him.

- Sam has three cars one of which I saw him in.

 Adjective clause
Adjective clause is always connected with Relative
Words (connector) such as Relative Pronoun or
Relative Adverb.
Relative Pronoun:
Ex: who, whom, whose, which, of which, that,
as, but
Relative Adverb.
Ex: when, why, where
Antecedent is a word (noun) used before Relative
Pronoun.
 Adjective Clauses
An adjective modifies a noun or a pronoun.
An adjective clause is a dependent clause that does
the work of an adjectivemodifies a noun or a
pronoun.
Example
Mr. John is an intelligent doctor.

Mr. John is a doctor who is intelligent.

 Sentence?
Sentence = Subject + predicate.

Examples of Sentences
- I sleep. (simple sentence)
- I sleep but she learns. (compound sentence)
- That is the girl who is my sweetie.
( Complex sentence)
- That is the girl who is my sweetie, and she is my
graduate a NUM.
(Compound and complex sentence)
 Predicate?
Predicate is the rest of the subject.

Sentence = Subject + predicate.

Examples of predicate:
- I sleep. (single predi)
- I sleep and write a love message.
(compound predicate)
- I sleep late every night. ( predicate phrase)
- I know whom Sonitha loves. (Predicate clause)
 Subject?
Subject is a word
([pro] noun) used before verb.
Examples of Subject
- I sleep. (simple subject)
- You and I sleep but she learns. (compound
subject)
- Who she is is still a question.
( Subject clause)
- The man near the white board is my professor.
(Phrasal subject)
 Relative Pronouns
1. Who (for people) is a relative pronoun working as a
subject of the adjective clause.
Ex. Doctor who operates people is a surgeon.

2. Whom (for people) is a relative pronoun working as an

object of adjective clause.
Ex. Doctor whom I know is a surgeon.
 Relative Pronouns
3. Which (for things or animals) is a relative
pronoun working as a subject or an object of the
adjective clause.

E.g. A dog which is barking may bite you.

A table which I use for my meal is broken.

 Relative Pronouns
Of which in Adjective Clause (Animal/thing)

Examples:
The tree of which the leaves are yellow is dying.

The tree the leaves of which are yellow is dying.

The table of which the leg is broken is mine.

The table the leg of which is broken is mine.

 Reduction of adjective clause
With + Adjective + Noun can be used to replace Of +
Which in adjective clause.
Example:

The book of which the cover is pink and white is

interesting.
The book with pink and white cover is interesting.
The dog of which its tail is long is barking.
The dog with its long tail is barking.
The girl whose hair is long is my sweetie.
The girl with long hair is my sweetie.
 Relative Pronouns
4. That (for people, things or animals) is a relative
pronoun working as a subject or an object of the
adjective clause.

E.g. A man that kills a chicken may catch bird flue.

A course that I study provides me a good job

in the future.
 THAT is generally used in
1. Superlative adjective
Ex: He is the most patient man that I have ever seen.
2. Ordinal adjective
Ex: England is the first country that I am going to visit.
3. Quantitative adjective
Ex: I have few books that I can share her.
4. Compound pronoun [someone, somebody, something,
anyone, anybody, anything, anywhere, everyone,
everybody, everything, everywhere, no one, nobody,
nothing, nowhere]
Ex: There is nothing that I can do for you.
 Relative Pronoun
4. As is used with the antecedent referring to a
comparison with the word the same or such.
Ex. I have the same book as you have.
I have such a book as you have.
[I have a book that you have.]

She does the same way as I do.

I want such a house as he built in Kep.
 Relative Pronoun
4. But is used with the antecedent referring to
Which not or Who not.

E.g. There are some pupils but wish to continue in

university.

There is no man here but wishes to be a good

person of the nation.
 Relative Pronouns
5. whose (for people, things or animals) is used
before noun to show possession.

E.g. A man whose son is my friend is a surgeon.

A dog whose tail is short is very wild.

 Relative Adverb
1. Where is used with the antecedent referring
to places.
E.g. I visited Battambang where I was born

Note: Where is equal to in which

E.g. I visited Kompot in which I was born.

I visited Kompot [which] I was born in.

 Relative Adverb
2. When is used with the antecedent referring to a time.
E.g. May 5, 1973 is the date when I was born.

Note: When is equal to on which

E.g. January 20, 2000 is the date on which she was born.

November 3, 2003 is the date [which] he was born on.

 Relative Adverb
3. Why is used with the antecedent
referring to a reason.

Ex. Business is the reason why student comes

late.
The reason why she swept is unknown.
 Relative pronoun as
an object of a preposition
Ex. A book in which the picture of our king
is printed has three thousand pages.

A man to whom you talked is a friend of mine.

I wrote on a topic about which I know nothing.

 Punctuating Adjective Clauses
1. Restrictive Adjective Clausea comma or commas are
not used to set off the adjective clause from the main
clause.
Ex. I dont do anything that disturbs the other.

2. Nonrestrictive Adjective Clausea comma or commas

are used to set off the adjective clause from the main
clause. (that is not used in this type)

Ex. I met Bophavathey, whom I invited for my party.

 Reduction of antecedent
If the adjective clause introduced by the
following relative pronouns, antecedent is
always omitted:

What, whatever, whichever, whoeveretc

Examples:
I dont understand what she said.
Give the money to whoever is poor.
She may take whichever she likes.
You may eat whatever you need.
 Differences between
Defining and Non-defining clause
Examples:
I met Hun Sen, who is Cambodian
Prime Minister.

Sokun Nisa, who is Cambodian famous

singer, will marry Prof. Suy Sareth.
 Differences between
Defining and Non-defining clause
More examples and comparing:
My sister who gets a job is very happy .
My sister, who gets a job, is very happy.

My wife who lives in Kep is a film star.

My wife, who lives in Kep, is a film star.