2. Reducing Adjective Clauses
to Adjective Phrases
Adjective clauses can be reduced to adjective phrases
under certain conditions:
1. The adjective clause must be a subject clause with a
subject pronoun—who, which, or that.
1. The adjective clause must not be an object clause
with an object pronoun—who, whom, or that--used
in the object position of the clause.
3. Examples:
1. The guy who is sitting near the door is from China.
This sentence can be reduced to:
The guy sitting near the door is from China.
2. The woman that is wearing the striped dress is my
neighbor.
This sentence can be reduced to:
The woman wearing the striped dress is my neighbor.
3. The cat which is sitting on the table is Luigi.
This sentence can be reduced to:
The cat sitting on the table is Luigi.
4. Example:
The Student Who/Whom/That I
called on was from Japan.
Try to reduce it and see what
happens!
Adjective clauses with object
pronouns CANNOT BE REDUCED
5. There are 4 ways in which an adjective clause is changed to an adjective
phrase.
1. The adjective clause contains the BE form of a verb followed by either
the present participle (ing) or the past participle (ed). In this case,
remove the relative pronoun and the BE verb.
Example 1:
The man who is talking to Khalid is from France.
This can be reduced to:
The man talking to Khalid is from France.
Example 2:
The ideas which are presented in the lecture are brilliant.
This can be reduced to:
The ideas presented in the lecture are brilliant.
6. There are 4 ways in which an adjective clause is changed to an adjective
phrase.
2. If there is no BE form of a verb in the adjective clause, it is sometimes
possible to omit the subject pronoun and change the verb to its –ing
form.
EXAMPLE:
English has an alphabet which consists of 26 letters.
This can be reduced to the following:
English has an alphabet consisting of 26 letters.
EXAMPLE:
Anyone who needs assistance should talk to the manager.
This can be reduced to the following:
Anyone needing assistance should talk to the manager.
7. There are 4 ways in which an adjective clause is changed to an
adjective phrase.
3. The relative pronoun and the BE verb are followed by a
prepositional phrase.
EXAMPLES:
A. The man who is in the house likes to watch television all
day.
The man in the house likes to watch television all day.
B. The books that are on the desk are mine.
The books on the desk are mine.
8. There are 4 ways in which an adjective clause is changed to an adjective
phrase.
4. The relative pronoun and the BE verb are followed by anoun
phrase in a non-identifying clause.
EXAMPLES:
A.Austin, which is the capital of Texas, is also home to the largest
university in the state.
Austin, the capital of Texas, is also home to the largest university in the
state.
B. The Houston Cougars, which is one of the best teams in the league, has
made it to the Final Four.
The Houston Cougars, one of the best teams in the league, has made it to
the Final Four.
9. Non-essential clauses/phrases
If the adjective clause is non-essential, and therefore
requires commas, then the adjective phrase is also
non-essential and also requires commas.
EXAMPLE:
Houston, which is the largest city in Texas, is
considered an inexpensive place to live.
This can be reduced as follows:
Houston, the largest city in Texas, is considered an
inexpensive place to live.
