{"id":10724,"date":"2012-03-26T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2012-03-26T16:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=10724"},"modified":"2012-03-23T15:18:39","modified_gmt":"2012-03-23T22:18:39","slug":"gmat-grammar-adjectival-phrases-and-clauses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/gmat-grammar-adjectival-phrases-and-clauses\/","title":{"rendered":"GMAT Grammar: Adjectival Phrases and Clauses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Deepen your comprehension of these complex grammatical forms so you use them effectively on\u00a0GMAT Sentence Correction<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

What is an adjectival phrase?\u00a0 What is an adjectival clause?\u00a0 What's the difference between them?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Points of Grammar:<\/h2>\n

An\u00a0adjective\u00a0is a word that modifies a noun.\u00a0 They are the colorful emotional words that spice up the language.\u00a0 For example, the quartet of adjectives based on the ancient medical theory of humors \u2014 \"sanguine\", \"choleric\", \"bilious\", and \"phlegmatic\" \u2014 span the range of human dispositions.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0phrase\u00a0can be either a prepositional phrase (preposition + noun-object) or a participial phrase (participle form of a verb, with possible a direct object and\/or adverb).\u00a0 If it modifies a noun, then it's an adjectival phrase.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0independent\u00a0clause of the sentence \u2013 main subject and main verb \u2014 will not be an adverbial clause.\u00a0 A dependent (a.k.a. subordinate) clause also has its own subject and verb, and if it modifies a noun, then it's an adjectival clause.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples of Adjectival Phrases:<\/h2>\n

1) The book\u00a0on my desk\u00a0is by Tolstoy.<\/p>\n

The preposition phrase \"on my desk\" is an adjectival phrase.\u00a0 It modifies the noun \"book\" \u2014 it specifies\u00a0which\u00a0book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2) Diogenes is remembered as the man\u00a0carrying a lantern in broad daylight.<\/p>\n

The participial phrase \"carrying a lantern in broad daylight\" is an adjectival phrase.\u00a0 It modifies the noun \"man\" \u2014 it specifies\u00a0which\u00a0man.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, within that participial phrase, the prepositional phrase \"in broad daylight\" is an adverbial phrase. It modifies the verb participle \"carrying\" \u2014 it specifies\u00a0when\u00a0he carried the lantern.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3) The Lone Ranger\u00a0riding into the sunset\u00a0is a vivid memory for an older generation of Americans.<\/p>\n

The participial phrase \"riding into the sunset\" is an adjectival phrase.\u00a0 It modifies the noun \"Lone Ranger\" \u2014 it specifies the setting\/activity of the Lone Ranger at that moment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples of Adjectival Clauses:<\/h2>\n

4) \"Any man who hates dogs and children can't be all bad.\"\u00a0 \u2013 W.C. Fields<\/p>\n

The dependent clause \"who hates dogs and children\" is an adjectival clause.\u00a0 It modifies the noun \"man\" \u2014 it specifieswhat kindof man.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5) \"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.\"\u00a0 \u2014 the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/p>\n

This is a double-whammy. The gigantic dependent clause \"that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character\" is a big adjectival clause.\u00a0 It modifies the noun \"dream\" \u2014 it specifies\u00a0what kind\u00a0of dream.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the clause \"where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character\" is also an adjectival clause.\u00a0 It modifies the noun \"nation\" \u2014 it specifies\u00a0what kind\u00a0of nation.<\/p>\n

Thus, this famous sentence has one adjectival clause nested inside another. Notice, also, the powerful use of parallelism.\u00a0 Such a high level of grammatical sophistication, conveying lofty moral ideals, is not at all surprising from one of the finest orators this nation has ever seen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why Are Adjectival Phrases & Clauses Important for the GMAT?<\/h2>\n

Likeadjectival phrases, adjectival phrases are one of the marks of sophisticated writing.\u00a0 I guarantee you will see them all over the GMAT Sentence Correction section. Learning them now, you will be forearmed.\u00a0 Furthermore, the more fluent you become withadjectival phrases, the more effectively you can use them in your own writing, including in the Analytical Writing Assessment of the GMAT; a well-chosen adjectival phrase will color a sentence a touch of with a vivid sense of tone, the perfect enhancement for any argument.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For free, here's a practice GMAT SC question, involving these ideas:\u00a0https:\/\/gmat.magoosh.com\/questions\/1140<\/a><\/p>\n

This post was written by Mike McGarry, GMAT Expert at Magoosh<\/a>, and originally posted here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deepen your comprehension of these complex grammatical forms so you use them effectively on\u00a0GMAT Sentence Correction What is an adjectival phrase?\u00a0 What is an adjectival clause?\u00a0 What’s the difference between…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,783,243,719,735],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-magoosh-blog","category-blog","category-sentence-correction-gmat","category-verbal-gmat-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10727,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10724\/revisions\/10727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}