Adjective Clause
The type of subordinate clause that modifies a noun is called
an adjective clause. As you may know, a
word that modifies a noun is called an adjective. The same rule/naming convention applies to
clauses: If a clause modifies a noun, it
is called an adjective clause. For
instance in the following sentence, the adjective is in bold:
The big tree fell.
Thus, because the noun “tree” is modified by the word “big,” the
adjective is “big.” Now, let’s use a subordinate clause to modify “tree”:
The tree, which was
big, fell.
Here, you can see that an entire clause is modifying the
noun; thus, the entire clause is serving as an adjective and is therefore
termed an adjective clause.
