1. Adjective Clause
An ADJECTIVE CLAUSE is a subordinate clause used as an adjective to modify a noun or pronoun.

2. The Adjective Clause:
The adjective clause FOLLOWS the word it modifies. If a clause is necessary, or essential, to the meaning of the sentence, it is NOT set off with commas. If a clause only gives additional information and is NONESSENTIAL to the meaning of a sentence, it IS set off by commas.

3. EXAMPLES of Adjective Clauses:
This is the new music video that I like best.
The word “that” is called a signal word. It is one of the words that begins an adjective clause. Every clause will begin with a signal word.
This is essential, so there are NO commas.

4. EXAMPLES of Adjective Clauses:
2. Griffins, which are mythological beasts, are seen on many coats of arms. The signal word beginning this clause is “which”. This clause is NON-ESSENTIAL or NOT NEEDED, and therefore is set off by commas.

5. Adjective Clause Signal Words:
Who Whom Whose Which That One of these five words will begin every Adjective Clause.

6. Find the Adjective Clause:
1. Cartoonists use a variety of unusual names for the symbols that commonly appear in funnies. 2. For example, a briffit is the little puff of dust hanging in the spot where a swiftly departing character had just been standing.

7. Find the Adjective Clause (cont.):
3. For times when cartoonists want to make something appear hot or smelly, they use wavy, rising lines called waftaroms. 4. Agitrons are the wiggly lines around an object that is supposed to be shaking. 5. The limbs of a character who is moving are usually preceded or trailed by curved lines called blurgits or swalloops.

8. Find the Adjective Clause (cont.):
6. Plewds, which look like flying droplets of sweat, are drawn around the head of a worried character. 7. In fact, there are very few motions or emotions for which cartoonists have not invented a clever, expressive symbol.

9. Find the Adjective Clause (cont.):
8. Almost everyone who likes to doodle and draw has used some of these symbols, probably without knowing the words for them. 9. Look at the example cartoon, where you will find the names of other common symbols from the world of cartooning.

10. Find the Adjective Clause (cont.):
10. Now you know a “language” that almost nobody outside the cartooning profession knows!