Adjective clauses are clauses that describe a noun. They are used to talk about nouns. There must be a subject and a verb in an adjective clause.
In the following examples in the picture the subject is a subject pronoun (=who). The verb in the adjective clause must agree with the noun it modifies. [1]
Who / that are subject pronouns which are used for people.
There is the boy who / that started the fight.
Which / that are subject pronouns which are used for things and animals.
I saw a film which / that was very good.
(There are two separate sentences here: I saw a film. The film was very good. To combine two sentences, “the film” in the adjective clause should be changed to which/that).
Subject pronouns who, that, which cannot be omitted in adjective clauses with subject pronouns.
“Paddington looked up, an expression of bliss on his face; that part of his face which could be seen behind eggy whiskers and toast crumbs. He tried to say something, but all he could manage was a muffled grunting noise which sounded like IMJUSTCOMING all rolled into one.” [2, p.39]
“Then there was his innocent face expression which wasn’t really an expression at all. He decided to use this one.” [2, p.41]
“Paddington turned and tried to run up the escalator, but it was going very fast, and with his short legs it was as much as he could do even to stand still. He had his head down and he didn’t notice a fat man with a briefcase who was running in the opposite direction until it was too late.” [2, p.45]
Sources:
- University of California, Irvine (2018). Adjective Clauses with Subject Pronouns. Available at: https://www.coursera.org/learn/adjective-clauses/lecture/c8Qy8/adjective-clauses-with-subject-pronouns-lecture [Accessed 1 Sep. 2018].
- Bond, M. (1992). A Bear Called Paddington. HarperCollinsPublishers.