Question

Select the words of the complete subordinate clause in the sentence below. Then identify it as either an adjective or an adverb clause.
Three criminals were soon behind bars, victims of their foolish belief that they could outsmart the law.

subordinate clause:

clause type:

Answer 1

Answer:

Subordinate clause: "victims of their foolish belief that they could outsmart the law".

Clause type: Adjective clause.

Explanation:

The clause chosen above as the subordinate one is understood as the second idea for the sentence directly linked to the first main clause. It is an adjective clause because the adjective "foolish" mainly controls the meaning of the subordinate clause by the explanation of why and how they got to go behind bars so soon. It is also important to highlight that there is no adverb explicit in the second clause, only in the first one by the use of "soon", which is not the case here, anyways.

Answer 2

Answer:

Subordinate clause: "that they could outsmart the law"

Clause type: Adjective clause

Explanation:

A subordinate or dependent clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb that does not express a complete thought on its own, and therefore it cannot stand by itself: it needs to depend on another clause to have meaning. In a sentence, this type of clause may function as an adjective, an adverb or as a noun.

As an adjective clause, it describes, modifies or adds further information to another noun; and always begins whether with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that, or which) or a relative adverb (when, where, or why).

In the sentence, "that they could outsmart the law" is a subordinate clause because it has a subject (they) and a verb (outsmart) and it can not express a complete thought. Furthermore, it is also an adjective clause because it begins with the relative pronoun "that" and it describes the noun "belief". What belief did they have? "that they could outsmart the law."