Elliptical Clause

An elliptical clause is a clause in which some words have been left out. Because of the pattern or logic of
the entire sentence, it is clear what the missing words are.
An elliptical clause may be either independent or subordinate.

Example: Jessica had five dollars; Monica, three.

(The verb had was dropped from the second clause, but the meaning is still clear.)

An elliptical clause is one that leaves out a bit of the sentence that would normally be there.
However in many cases, this doesn’t matter - the sentence still makes perfect sense without the
extra bit. Here’s a full sentence:

I know that this week will be very busy at work.

Normally, the clause ‘this week will be very busy at work’ needs something to lead into it. In this case, we
use the relative pronoun ‘that’ to relate the clause to the first part of the sentence ‘I know’. However, you
don’t always need this lead in, we can see when we drop ‘that’ from the sentence:

I know this week will be very busy at work.

This sentence still makes perfect sense when you read it, and has exactly the same meaning. The
elliptical clause is, "this week will be very busy at work." You can also get elliptical clauses when you’re
comparing two things:

Jason can climb better than Bob can climb.

This sentence is fine. However, we can drop the second ‘can climb’ (shown in bold font) from the
sentence and it still makes sense:

Jason can climb better than Bob.

The ‘can climb’ at the end of the first sentence is known as a predicate. By dropping it, we’ve created
another elliptical clause - ‘than Bob’. It’s not really a complete clause - it’s got a subject (Bob), but it
doesn’t have a verb.

Adjective Clause:
An adjective clause—also called an adjectival or relative clause—will meet three requirements:
 First, it will contain a subject and verb.
 Next, it will begin with a relative pronoun [who, whom, whose, that, or which] or a
relative adverb [when, where, or why].
 Finally, it will function as an adjective, answering the questions What kind? How many?
or Which one?

The adjective clause will follow one of these two patterns

1. Relative Pronoun + Adverb + Subject + Verb
2. Relative Pronoun as Subject + Verb

Here are some examples:

 Whose big, brown eyes pleaded for another cookie
o Whose = relative pronoun; eyes = subject; pleaded = verb.
  Why Fred cannot stand sitting across from his sister Melanie
o Why = relative adverb; Fred = subject; can stand = verb [not, an adverb, is not officially
part of the verb].
 That bounced across the kitchen floor
o That = relative pronoun functioning as subject; bounced = verb.
 Who hiccupped for seven hours aft erward
o Who = relative pronoun functioning as subject; hiccupped = verb.

Noun clauses
Noun Clauses perform the same functions in sentences that nouns do:

 A noun clause can be a subject of a verb:

o What Billy did shocked his friends.

 A noun clause can be an object of a verb:

o Billy’s friends didn’t know that he couldn’t swim.

 A noun clause can be a subject complement:

o Billy’s mistake was that he refused to take lessons.

 A noun clause can be an object of a preposition:

o Mary is not responsible for what Billy did.

 A noun clause (but not a noun) can be an adjective complement:

o Everybody is sad that Billy drowned.

Noun Clauses Exercise: Find out the noun clauses in the following sentences

1. The king ordered that the traitor should be put to death.

2. He said that he would not go.
3. That he is not interested in the offer is known to us.
4. He said that he was not feeling well.
5. I cannot rely on what he says.
6. I don’t know where he has gone.
7. He asked whether the servant had polished his shoes.
8. The news that he is alive has been confirmed.
9. The belief that the soul is immortal is almost universal.
10. It is certain that we will have to admit defeat.
11. It was fortunate that he was present.
12. The report that only ten persons were killed in the riots is not true.