Adjective clauses modify nouns and pronouns. An essential clause adds nonremovable information to the sentence, while a nonessential clause redefines the noun it modifies in a replaceable manner. One of the simplest, yet most thorough, ways to practice linking adjective clauses to the rest of a sentence involves reviewing the concept of both adjectives and adjective clauses, identifying and learning from adjective clauses within a previously written text, then using the information to form new sentences and adjective clauses of your own.

1

Select a paragraph of text from a favorite book or website, and read the paragraph once through to establish a sense of context. Reread the text, and write down all the words you believe to be adjectives or any word you think might be an adjective. Remember that an adjective modifies or describes some quality of a noun or pronoun.

2

Check your list of suspected adjectives against a dictionary. Make a check mark next to each word you correctly identified as an adjective, and cross off any words belonging to another part of speech. If satisfied with the number of correctly identified adjectives on your list, proceed to the next step. If desiring more practice identifying adjectives, choose another paragraph and repeat steps 1 and 2 before continuing.

3

Reread your original paragraph, and search for adjective clauses. Write down these suspected adjective clauses on a separate list. Remember that adjective clauses operate similarly to single-word adjectives by modifying or describing a noun or pronoun but do not need to contain a single-word adjective.

For example, in the sentence, "Mary, who graduated college last May, recently got a full-time job," the adjective clause "who graduated college last May" modifies the proper noun "Mary."

4

Review your list of adjective clauses, and identify which are essential versus nonessential. Mark an "E" next to essential adjective clauses and an "N" next to nonessential adjective clauses.

An essential clause has no commas and adds something necessary to the sentence. A nonessential clause requires commas on each end and only redefines the noun it modifies, such as the example in step 3.

5

Create a few adjective clauses of your own. Study the example clauses pulled from steps 3 and 4, or repeat these two steps with another paragraph for additional practice until you feel comfortable with the concept. Use these examples to assist you in the creation of new sentences.

For instance, if using the example clause from step 3, swap out the noun, adjective clause and additional information for your own. A new sentence might read, "Joseph, who retired last autumn, recently found a new hobby."

6

Ask another person, like a teacher, tutor or parent, to review your work and make corrections.

Perform an Internet search for "adjective clauses practice" or "adjective clauses worksheets" for more specific examples or additional practice on linking clauses.

Ask a knowledgeable individual, rather than a friend learning at the same pace as you, for help.

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