CAE Unit 7 linking ideas participle and relative clauses

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Learning goals

1. you will learn what relative clauses are and how to use them

2. you will learn what participle clauses are and how to use them

Open your books 

page 78 exc 1

Time to work: 10 minutes

Unit 7: Relative clauses

Relative clauses  are in Dutch betrekkelijke bijzinnen. 

A relative clause is introduced by a relative pronoun: 

WHO

WHOM (object)

WHICH

WHOSE

THAT

A relative clause tells us which person or thing the speaker means/ refers to.

who/that refer to people

who/that refers to people: the people who live next door are truly awful

which/that refers to things and animals: A turtle is an animal which lives in the sea. 

when refers to time: He does not remember when they were married.

where refers to place: This is the house where it all began. 

why refers to reasons:  the reason why I am here is that I've been invited.

There are two types of relative clauses:

1. Defining relative clauses: they give detailed information and are essential to the meaning of the sentence.

 Defining relative clauses therefore are not put in commas.

e.g. 

Women who hate chocolate are uncommon. 

The dish that I ordered was delicious. (which) 

The man who came with her, had already left. 

There are two types of relative clauses:

2. Non-defining relative clauses: they give additional information, but are not essential to the meaning of the sentence. A non-defining clause is separated form the main clause by commas and can be left out. 

e.g.

The hamster, which was small and brown, had finally gotten himself a mate.

This lesson is quite boring, which I find very frustrating. 

                  That can never replace who/which in a non-defining relative clause. 

Unit 7 : Participle Clauses

In English, participle clauses are mainly used in writing in order to put a lot of information into one sentence. 

There are three kinds of participles in English: 

present participle, past participle and perfect participle.

We can use participle clauses when the participle and the verb

 in the main clause have the same subject. For example:

• Waiting for Ellie, I made some tea. (While I was waiting for Ellie, I made some tea.) 

       participle                 verb in the main clause

participle clause is gelijk aan een foutief beknopte bijzin in het nederlands

Present Participle

The Present Participle is the ing-form. You surely know this form:

• from progressive / continuous tenses – I am speaking.
  
• as an adjective form – The film is interesting.
  
• as a gerund – He is afraid of flying.
  

Furthermore, the present participle can be used to shorten or combine active clauses that have the same subject, e.g. 

She left the house and whistled. – She left the house whistling.

Tom opened the envelope when he saw Pete. - Opening the envelope, he saw Pete. 

Past Participle

The Past Participle is the participle that you find in the third column of lists with irregular verbs. You surely know this form:

• from perfect tenses – I have spoken.
  
• from passive voice – The letter was written.
  
• as an adjective form – I was bored to death.
  

The past participle can  be used to shorten or combine passive clauses that have the same subject, e.g. 

The boy was given an apple. He stopped crying. – Given an apple, the boy stopped crying. 

The past participle is used when the meaning is passive. 

Perfect participle

The Perfect Participle can be used to shorten or combine clauses that have the same subject if..

• … one action (the one where the perfect participle is used) is completed before the next action starts, e.g. She bought a bike and cycled home. – Having bought a bike, she cycled home.
  
• … one action has been going on for a period of time when another action starts, e.g. He had been living there for such a long time that he didn’t want to move to another town. – Having lived there for such a long time, he didn’t want to move to another town.
  

The perfect participle can be used for active and passive voice.

• active voice: having + past participle (Having cooked, he set the table.)
  
• passive voice: having been + past participle (Having been cooked, the food looked delicious.)
  

When to use Present Participles

For an action that happens at the same time as the action in the main clause: 

• Tom lost his keys (while) walking through the park. (Tom lost his keys while he was walking through the park.)
  
• She left the room singing happily. (She left the room as she was singing happily.)
  

For an action that happens just before another action: 

• Opening the envelope, I found two concert tickets. (I opened the envelope and I found two concert tickets.)
  

When to use Present Participles

For an action that is the result of another action:

• Moments later a bomb exploded, leaving three people dead and twelve others injured.
  
• When I entered they all looked at me, making me feel uncomfortable.
  

For a reason for the action in the main clause:

• Having nothing left to do, Paula went home. (Since Paula had nothing left to do, she went home.)
  
• Knowing a little Russian, I had no difficulty making myself understood. (As I knew a little Russian, I had no difficulty making myself understood.)
  
• Working as a sales rep, I get to travel a lot. (I travel a lot because I work as a sales rep.)

Here the subjects of the two actions can be different: 

• The weather being nice, we decided to go for a picnic. (As the weather was nice, we decided to go for a picnic.)

When to use Past Participles

Past participle clauses replace passive clauses:

• Shocked by the explosion, the people ran for shelter. (The people were shocked by the explosion and ran for shelter.) 
• The musicians stood up, surrounded by thunderous applause. (The musicians stood up while they were surrounded by thunderous applause.)
  

When to use Perfect Participles

If we want to make clear that an action happens before another one, we use a perfect participle for the earlier action:

• Having washed the car, I noticed a small scratch on the front right fender. (After I washed the car, I noticed a small scratch on the front right fender.)
  

Here the present participle (washing the car) would mean "while I was washing the car". 

If the two actions do not follow each other immediately or if the first action happens over a period of time, we use a perfect participle instead of a present participle for the earlier action:

• 
  Having seen the film before, I didn't want to go to the cinema. 
• Mark knew the town well, having lived there all his life.

Final notes

When shortening or combining clauses with a participle construction, keep the following rules in mind:

• Both clauses – 99% of the times – have the same subject.
  
• The less important part becomes the participle clause. Important information should always be in the main clause.
  
• Make sure, you use the correct participle form (see above).
  
• An important difference between present and past participles, when used on their own, is that present participles are active and past participles are passive. It does not have to do with present or past time. 

Practise!

1.  CAE book page 78 exc.  2, 3, 4 and 5
   
   

Feel like you need more explanation? Watch the 2 videos that follow,

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