The door is described as being locked. The adjectival clause
is ‘... was locked’. The subject ‘door’ is ‘understood’ and the
relative pronoun ‘which’ links the adjectival clause to the
main clause. The finite verb in the adjectival phrase is ‘was
locked’.
His wife,who is a model, has gone on holiday.‘... is a model’ describes the wife. The main clause is ‘His
wife...hasgoneonholiday’.Therelativepronoun, ‘who’,
links the adjectival clause to it. The finite verb in the adjecti-
val clause is ‘is’.
Adjectival clauses are often introduced by the following
words:
who whom whose which that‘That’ can sometimes be ‘understood’ so it is not always
necessary to include it.
This is the house (that) they have built.It is important to put the adjectival clause as close as
possible to the noun or pronoun it is describing. If you don’t,
your sentence may be ambiguous.
She bought a dress from the charity shop which needed
some repair.Obviously it was thedressnot theshopthat needed repair!
46 / IMPROVE YOUR PUNCTUATION & GRAMMAR