Adjective Clauses That Describe Places
2020-12-04
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1Imagine you are watching a movie in English.
2Perhaps it is a musical, such as Mary Poppins Returns.
3Well maybe all those things
4That you love so
5Are waiting in the place
6Where the lost things go
7In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore some of the words we just heard. In particular, we will explore adjective clauses that describe places.
8But first, let's begin with some definitions.
9Adjective clauses, also called relative clauses, are groups of words that modify or give further information about nouns.
10These clauses have a subject and a predicate.
11Consider this example:
12This is the city where I was born.
13In the example, I is the subject of the clause. Was born is the predicate. Where is a relative adverb.
14Together, the words where I was born make an adjective clause that modifies or describes the noun city.
15Our example sentence is one in which an adjective clause describes a place.
16Language experts Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber note* that English speakers often use adjective clauses in regular, repeated ways.
17When describing places, Conrad and Biber note, English speakers often use the words where or that to begin an adjective clause.
18But sometimes they do not use any word at all, as we will see.
19The first way English speakers describe a place is with the structure -Noun of place + where.
20Think back to our first example:
21This is the city where I was born.
22The noun of place is the word city.
23But in everyday speech and in writing, one of the most commonly used nouns of place is the word place.
24Consider the song There's a Place, by the Beatles.
25There is a place
26Where I can go
27In the song, the noun of place is place and the adjective clause is the words where I can go.
28But where is not the only word that English speakers use to begin adjective clauses that describe places.
29In everyday speech, Americans also often use the word that.
30Consider this example. Imagine two friends are walking down the street. One might say to the other,
31Is this the restaurant that you were talking about?
32In the example, the noun of place is restaurant. The word that begins the adjective clause.
33But in some cases, Americans leave out the word that.
34So, you might hear an American ask their friend the following question:
35Is this the restaurant you were talking about?
36For more information about why the word that disappears, please visit the earlier Everyday Grammar program, The Mystery of the Disappearing "That."
37There are other ways that English speakers use adjective clauses to describe places.
38They might use the words in which or to which, for example.
39Such structures are mostly used in academic writing.
40They are much less common in everyday speech.
41Let's end this report with a quiz.
42At the beginning of this report, you heard the following words:
43Well maybe all those things
44That you love so
45Are waiting in the place
46Where the lost things go
47Can you tell where the adjective clauses are?
48Do the adjective clauses modify a noun of place, or do they modify a different kind of noun?
49Write us your answer in the comments section of our website, learningenglish.voanews.com.
50I'm John Russell.
1Imagine you are watching a movie in English. Perhaps it is a musical, such as Mary Poppins Returns. 2Well maybe all those things 3That you love so 4Are waiting in the place 5Where the lost things go 6In today's Everyday Grammar, we will explore some of the words we just heard. In particular, we will explore adjective clauses that describe places. 7But first, let's begin with some definitions. 8What are adjective clauses? 9Adjective clauses, also called relative clauses, are groups of words that modify or give further information about nouns. 10These clauses have a subject and a predicate. Consider this example: 11This is the city where I was born. 12In the example, I is the subject of the clause. Was born is the predicate. Where is a relative adverb. 13Together, the words where I was born make an adjective clause that modifies or describes the noun city. 14Our example sentence is one in which an adjective clause describes a place. 15Language 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. 16Adjective clauses that describe places 17The first way English speakers describe a place is with the structure - 18Noun of place + where. 19Think back to our first example: 20This is the city where I was born. 21The noun of place is the word city. 22But in everyday speech and in writing, one of the most commonly used nouns of place is the word place. 23Consider the song There's a Place, by the Beatles. 24There is a place 25Where I can go 26In the song, the noun of place is place and the adjective clause is the words where I can go. 27Noun of place + that OR noun of place only 28But 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. 29Consider this example. Imagine two friends are walking down the street. One might say to the other, 30Is this the restaurant that you were talking about? 31In the example, the noun of place is restaurant. The word that begins the adjective clause. 32But in some cases, Americans leave out the word that. So, you might hear an American ask their friend the following question: 33Is this the restaurant you were talking about? 34For more information about why the word that disappears, please visit the earlier Everyday Grammar program, The Mystery of the Disappearing "That." 35There 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. 36Closing thoughts 37Let's end this report with a quiz. At the beginning of this report, you heard the following words: 38Well maybe all those things 39That you love so 40Are waiting in the place 41Where the lost things go 42Can 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, learningenglish.voanews.com. 43I'm John Russell. 44John Russell wrote this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. 45*Conrad, Susan and Biber, Douglas. Real Grammar: A Corpus-Based Approach to English. Pearson Education Inc. 2009 46_______________________________________________________________ 47Words in This Story 48clause - n. grammar : a part of a sentence that has its own subject and verb 49adverb - 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 50regular - adj. happening over and over again at the same time or in the same way 51academic - adj. of or relating to schools and education 52We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.