Dependent Clauses

There are three types of dependent clauses, also known as subordinate clauses. Dependent clauses do not stand alone as a complete sentence, so if you write a dependent clause with a period after it, you have written a sentence fragment. That's why a dependent clause must be combined with an independent clause in some way.

The three types of dependent clauses are noun clause, adverb clause and adjective clause.

We discussed adverb clauses that begin with subordinating conjunctions last week, so review that blog post if you need more information. We'll tackle noun clauses later. Today, let's focus on adjective clauses.

An adjective clause modifies a noun or a pronoun and begins with one of the five relative pronouns--who, whom, whose, which or that. Relative pronouns refers to the preceding noun or pronoun while connecting the adjective clause to the rest of the sentence.

Adjective Clause Punctuation

To punctuate an adjective clause the writer must decide if the adjective clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence or nonessential. In other words, if the adjective clause could be crossed out and the noun or pronoun that it refers to is still specifically identified, then the adjective clause is nonessential.

When an adjective clause is essential, do not include commas around it.

When an adjective clause is nonessential, set it off with commas on both sides of the clause so that you clearly tell your reader that this information is parenthetical, or just extra stuff.