As already discussed, the fairly common forms of subordinate sentences with adjuncts are sentences with non-finite infinitive with 'to' that indicates purposes and adjective clauses or relative clauses. There are some syntactic characteristics of subordinate sentences with adjuncts in the form of adjective clauses that are worth pointing out, which is to be explored now.

Relative pronouns in adjective clauses:
a. Anyone who likes Italian food will love pizza.
b.*Anyone whom likes Italian food will love pizza.
c. The public, whom he had tried to please, condemned him for his outrageous beliefs.
d. The public, who he had tried to please, condemned him for his outrageous beliefs.
e. Anyone whose movie is late will pay a late fee at the rental store.
f. The building, which was built of brick, did not survive the earthquake.
g. The boat that was owned by Mr. Harper sank in the harbor.
h. This is the house where we lived.
i. This is the house that Jack built.
k. This is the house X Jack built.
l. The computer for which I was saving is now obsolete.

Can you make any generalizations from the data above?
Hint: Why is sentence b. unacceptable? Is there any constraint on the relative pronoun 'whom'?
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'Whom' is considered the object relative pronoun--an objective marked pronoun. It is, therefore, unacceptable in the position that requires the object noun.


Ploeger, Katherine. 1999. Simplified Paragraph Essays.
Hogue, Anne and Oshima, Alice. 1997. An Introduction to Academic Writing. 2nd Edition.