Independent Clause, Dependent Clause and Modifier

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

The writer elaborates theories of adjective clause and X-Bar based on relevant sources in this chapter. This chapter is also meant to present the theoretical ground as the basis of analysis. Contemporary theories of adjective clause and X-Bar are presented here.

A. Theoretical Review

In this part, the writer reviews many theories related to the adjective clause and the X schema to provide theoretical background to conduct the research. The first part is related to the adjective clauses theory and the second part is related to the X schema. The followings are the complete elaborations of those theories.

1. Theoretical Review of Adjective Clause

Many literatures on grammar discuss adjective clauses extensively. However, to avoid exaggerate discussion on the adjective clauses and to synchronise those literatures with the aims of this study the writer will discuss theories and concepts of the adjective clause related to the research.

a. Independent Clause, Dependent Clause and Modifier

According to Azar 1999: 267 and Murphy 1985: 182, a clause is a part of a sentence which contains a subject and verb. On the other hand, Azar 1999: 8 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 9 267 also states that an independent clause or a main clause is a complete sentence. It contains the main subject and verb of a sentence. It should be also contrasted with the term dependent clause or subordinate clause since an adjective clause is a dependent clause. A dependent clause is not a complete sentence. It must be connected to an independent clause. On the other hand, adjectives, as Azar 1999: A4 states, give a little different meaning by describing or modifying nouns. Therefore, as the name suggests, the adjective clause is a clause which functions to modify or to describe about a noun. In line with the arguments, Murphy 1985: 182 states that an adjective clause is not only to explain about a noun but also a pronoun. In other words, the adjective clause functions as a modifier of a noun or pronoun. To make it precise, sentence [1] illustrates those explanations. [1] The woman who lives next door is a doctor. The clause in italic is an adjective clause. It is an adjective clause because it functions to modify or to give further information about the noun phrase the woman. By adding an adjective clause after the noun phrase, a speaker intends to be precise on which he or she means. Still according to Murphy 1985: 182, sentence [1] actually consists of two sentences. They are [1a] and [1b]. [1a] The woman is a doctor. [1b] She lives next door. Comparing sentence [1a], [1b] and [1], it makes an impression that [1b] explains or gives further information of sentence the [1a]. It gives further information of the noun phrase the woman. However, if [1b] merely combines with [1a] it will be 10 less elegant and wordier. Therefore, the presence of the relative pronoun who encodes the properties of [1b] so that it naturally attaches to [1a] to form [1]. The next part discusses the theoretical description of the relative pronoun.

b. Relative Pronoun