Real Grammar - Susan Conrad, Douglas Biber 2009

Adjective Clauses with Adverb Meanings
Unit 42 That’s the way I look at it

What have you learned from your grammar textbook?

Adjective clauses can be used to modify nouns that refer to time or place.

Adjective clauses about place usually begin with where, in which, or that.

• That’s the house where I live.

• That’s the house in which I live.

• That’s the house that I live in.

Adjective clauses about time can use when, that, or no relative pronoun.

• I remember the day when he left.

• I remember the day that he left.

• I remember the day he left.

What does the corpus show?

A

Adjective clauses cover four types of adverb meaning: place, time, reason, or manner (how something is done). Although it is possible for these adjective clauses to modify many different nouns and to use many different relative pronouns, each type of clause has particular common patterns.

B

Adjective clauses describing places:

C

Adjective clauses describing times:

D

Adjective clauses describing reasons:

E

Adjective clauses describing manner of doing something:

Activities

1 Notice in context: Read the conversation and the two paragraphs from different types of writing. Circle the nouns modified by adjective clauses with adverb meanings. Underline the adjective clauses.

1. Conversation: After a meeting.

Alejo: Hey, can I get a ride?

Salwa: Yeah, but you have to promise not to comment on the cleanliness of my car or the way I drive.

2. Fiction writing: Disappointment after the wedding.

Their honeymoon in Acapulco was a disaster. The surroundings were beautiful, but Eddie drank all day and gambled all night. Back in London things worsened, and by the time they moved into Lady Elizabetta’s flat Rafaella had grown to hate her husband, and yet she had no idea how she could escape.

3. Academic writing: Advice to language learners regarding listening/speaking practice.

Listening can be done in a classroom-type situation where you listen to a live language helper or to a recording which can be played over and over again. Or it can be done outside the classroom— in any place where people are talking and you can listen. It is good to seek out opportunities where you can listen without being called upon to participate, for example, radio or TV programs, sermons, public speeches, in the village circle at night, and participating in community activities. In the classroom, when you obtain new data from a language helper, always listen several times before mimicking.

2 Analyze discourse: Look back at Activity 1. Decide whether each adjective clause indicates physical place, logical meaning, time, reason, or manner. Write P (place), L (logical meaning), T (time), R (reason), or M (manner), next to the clause.

3 Practice the structure: Complete the sentences with the appropriate words or phrases from the box. Use nouns and adjective clauses that are common for the type of writing or conversation. There may be more than one answer.

1. Pauli envied the ... his elder brother could make friends so easily, (fict.)

2. If the historical section of your thesis ends up being much too long, there is no ... it cannot be edited and rewritten. (acad.)

3. Households were selected for the survey in a ... gave all phone numbers, listed and unlisted, an equal chance of being included. (news)

4. Clearly this is an area ... considerable further work is required. (acad.)

5. Student: Are bus passes here?

Clerk: No, we don’t sell any bus passes here.

Student: Oh ... there’s nowhere near to buy one, I suppose?

Clerk: The closest place ... I know of is the University, but I think they’re closed until Tuesday.

4 Practice conversation: work with a partner. Ask and answer these questions. In each answer, include a noun modified by an adjective clause which has the meaning given in parentheses.

1. Where was your first job, or where do you hope it will be? (physical place)

2. I get done working at 9 tonight. What will you be doing then? (time)

3. How do you like to cook chicken? (manner)

5 Practice writing: Write your answers to these questions, using complete sentences, in each answer, include a noun modified by an adjective clause which has the meaning given in parentheses. Share your answers with a partner.

1. Should English instructors always give tests? (logical meaning of where; in your answer, describe a case where an instructor might not give a test)

2. Should your instructors give you homework every night? (reasons)