Relative clause versus predicate nominative

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Hi,1) Question: A relative clause and adjective clause are the same thing, correct?2) The dealership that sold more cars eded up losing more money. =adjective clauseMy trouble was that they had never been there before=predicate nominative (noun phrase)Question: What type of pronoun is that in the second sentence?Question: Will a relative pronoun in an adjective clause always immediately follow the noun and modify that noun?Question: Will the that in the predicate nominative (second sentence) always immediately follow a verb and modify the subject?Thanks.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Eddie88A relative clause and adjective clause are the same thing, correct?

Not really.
The most important thing for you to remember is the tickets.
for you to remember is a clause used as an adjective phrase, so it's an adjective clause (nonfinite), but it's not a relative clause.
But relative clauses are all adjective clauses. Relative clauses are one kind of adjective clause. They are finite clauses.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

The dealership that sold more cars eded up losing more money. =adjective clause

My trouble was that they had never been there before=predicate nominative (noun phrase)

Question: What type of pronoun is that in the second sentence? It's not a pronoun because it doesn't take the place of a noun. It's called a complementizer.
Question: Will a relative pronoun in an adjective clause always immediately follow the noun and modify that noun?No, but it usually does. Here are some exceptions.

The book the cover of which is green can be found next to the table under which the cat is lying.
The first which refers back to the book. The second which refers back to the table.
Question: Will the that in the predicate nominative (second sentence) always immediately follow a verb and modify the subject? If it's a predicate nominative, yes, it has to follow a form of some linking verb, usually the verb to be. Not always immediately, however:
My trouble was [most likely / almost certainly / undoubtedly] that they had never been there before.
CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Answer:
1) Correct.
The Adjective clause is the other name of the relative clause. The relative clause (adjective clause) is a dependent clause , and it functions as an adjective which modifies a noun. (two other dependent clauses are the noun clause (function as a noun) and the adverb clause (functions as an adverb)

2) To make these examples clearer. I want to name the second example a noun clause.
The first example is an adjective clause. "That" is a relative pronoun (like who..etc). "that sold more cars" is the adjective clause modified to a noun " dealership"; therefore, to avoid misunderstanding "that" must be placed next to the noun it modifies.
"That" is pronoun in this case; it cannot be dropped. ( we can drop "that" in other cases)

The second example is a noun clause. " That" in this sentence is a noun clause marker; "That" doesn't have any meaning ( differs from"That, a relative pronoun in the first example.".)
"They" is the subject pronoun of the second example.
The whole clause "that they had never been there before" is a noun clause. There are a lot of functions of a noun such as subject, object, subject complement, object of preposition etc), In the second example the whole noun clause functions as a subject complement. (after a linking verb- To Be- copula verb).
"That" in a noun clause does not always follow immediately after a verb of main clause. (see drop That in Noun clause)
Ex: He told me that he was not going to the meeting. ( "that he was... = noun clause) ( We often use THAT noun clause after some verbs, some adjectives , some expressions especially in the Reported speech and in Indirect question.) Other noun clause makers are Wh, Wh-evr noun clauses,and If, whether noun clauses.

Relative clause versus predicate nominative

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