identify the adjective clause a. People who eat too much die early b. i didn't buy it because it was expensive

Question

identify the adjective clause

a. People who eat too much die early

b. i didn't buy it because it was expensive

Answer 1

An adjective clause is a group of words that modify a noun, much the same as an adjective. These clauses typically begin with relative pronouns like who, which, or that. However, the most important function of an adjective clause is to specify, describe, or modify the subject or a noun in some way.

In the first sentence, who eat too much, is the adjective clause because it describes the kind of people that die early. In this example, the adjective clause is headed by a relative pronoun, who.

In the second sentence, however, things are a little trickier. The clause because it was expensive could arguably be considered a functional adjective clause because it works to describe the subject it. However, outside of this specific question, I would not necessarily label that particular dependent clause as an adjective clause.

Answer 2

Adjective clauses describe something and often give more information about a person or thing in the sentence. They can serve to identify who or what is being talked about. Which kind of people? The kind described in the adjective clause.

For a), one hint is that these clauses can sometimes start with the word "who" or "which." Identify who is being described (the subject of the sentence), what they are doing (the verb), and any extra information that is modifying the subject (and not the verb; that would be an adverb clause) is your adjective clause.

For b), sometimes on these kinds of questions, there isn't technically an adjective clause, because an adjective clause consists of more than one word. Instead, the answer is a one-word adjective phrase. Find the noun that is being described and the thing that we find out about this noun is your adjective phrase.

I hope this helps!

Answer 3

Hi, Imamma. I think you will be able to identify the adjective clause in your first sentence after reading this brief article:

https://www.englishgrammar.org/relative-pronouns-introduce-adjective-clauses/

The second sentence, however, doesn't have an adjective clause -- or an adverbial clause, which I mistakenly stated in the previous version of my answer. Instead, it has a subordinating conjunction. You can read why here:

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/subordinating-conjunctions/