Adjective Clauses That Describe Places

 

Imagine you are watching a movie in English. Perhaps it is a musical, such as Mary Poppins Returns.

Well maybe all those things

That you love so

Are waiting in the place

Where the lost things go

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore some of the words we just heard. In particular, we will explore adjective¹ clauses³ that describe places.

But first, let's begin with some definitions⁴.

What are adjective clauses?

Adjective clauses, also called relative clauses, are groups of words that modify⁵ or give further information about nouns⁷.

These clauses have a subject and a predicate. Consider this example:

This is the city where I was born.

In the example, I is the subject of the clause². Was born is the predicate. Where is a relative adverb.

Together, the words where I was born make an adjective clause that modifies⁸ or describes the noun⁶ city.

Our example sentence is one in which an adjective clause describes a place.

Language experts Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber note* that English speakers often use adjective clauses in regular, repeated ways. When describing places, Conrad and Biber note, English speakers often use the words where or that to begin an adjective clause. But sometimes they do not use any word at all, as we will see.

Adjective clauses that describe places

The first way English speakers describe a place is with the structure -

Noun of place + where.

Think back to our first example:

This is the city where I was born.

The noun of place is the word city.

But in everyday speech and in writing, one of the most commonly used nouns of place is the word place.

Consider the song There's a Place, by the Beatles.

There is a place

Where I can go

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In the song, the noun of place is place and the adjective clause is the words where I can go.

Noun of place + that OR noun of place only

But where is not the only word that English speakers use to begin adjective clauses that describe places. In everyday speech, Americans also often use the word that.

Consider this example. Imagine two friends are walking down the street. One might say to the other,

Is this the restaurant that you were talking about?

In the example, the noun of place is restaurant. The word that begins the adjective clause.

But in some cases, Americans leave out the word that. So, you might hear an American ask their friend the following question:

Is this the restaurant you were talking about?

For more information about why the word that disappears, please visit the earlier Everyday Grammar program, The Mystery of the Disappearing "That."

There are other ways that English speakers use adjective clauses to describe places. They might use the words in which or to which, for example. Such structures are mostly used in academic writing. They are much less common in everyday speech.

Closing thoughts

Let's end this report with a quiz. At the beginning of this report, you heard the following words:

Well maybe all those things

That you love so

Are waiting in the place

Where the lost things go

Can you tell where the adjective clauses are? Do the adjective clauses modify a noun of place, or do they modify a different kind of noun? Write us your answer in the comments section of our website, www.51voa.com.

Words in This Story

clause – n. grammar : a part of a sentence that has its own subject and verb

adverb – n. a word that describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a sentence and that is often used to show time, manner, place, or degree

regular – adj. happening over and over again at the same time or in the same way

academic – adj. of or relating to schools and education

1 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

2 clause   

n.（正式文件或法律文件的）条款，从句，分句

参考例句：

• The sentence consists of a main clause and a subordinate clause.这句中有一个主句和一个从句。
• What clause do you require in the contract?你要求在合同中订上什么条款？

3 clauses   

从句( clause的名词复数 )； （法律文件等的）条款

参考例句：

• Relative pronouns and adverbs introduce attributive clauses. 关系代词和关系副词引导定语从句。
• Please underline the noun clauses in the passage. 请用线画出短文中的名词性从句。

4 definitions   

定义( definition的名词复数 )； 规定； 清晰（度）； 解释

参考例句：

• Write clear definitions in order to avoid ambiguity. 释义要写清楚以免产生歧义。
• Definitions in this dictionary are printed in roman type. 这本词典里的释义是用罗马体印刷的。

5 modify   

vt.修改；缓和；修饰，限制

参考例句：

• You'd better modify your tone.你最好说得婉转一点。
• Established practices are difficult to modify.既定的惯例是很难更改的。

6 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

7 nouns   

n.名词；名词( noun的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns. 法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Nouns join to form compounds. 名词和名词结合构成复合词。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 modifies   

v.修改，更改( modify的第三人称单数 )；改变；修饰；缓和

参考例句：

• In "the black cat"the adjective "black" modifies the noun "cat". 在the black cat这一词组中，形容词black修饰名词cat。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Such extraction modifies the whole cell-membrance network throughout the wool fiber. 这种萃取改变了整个毛纤维中所有细胞膜的网状结构。 来自辞典例句