V4 - Unit 5, lesson 3

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Lesson 3:

Relative clauses!

Work on week task 

Grammar: relative clauses

Defining relative clause:

 - She showed me photos of the gorillas that she had studied

- The man who had hit me with his car appologized immediately.

Non-defining relative clause:

- Jack the Ripper, whose identity was never uncovered, is an infamous killer.

- Her most recent book, which was published last month, is the last part in the Seven Sisters series.

What is a relative clause?

We can use relative clauses to join two English sentences together, or to give more information about something. We make a relative clause by starting it with a relative pronoun. These are: who, which, that, whose, whom, where, when, why

I bought a new car. It is very fast. → I bought a new car that is very fast.

She lives in New York. She likes living in New York.  →  She lives in New York, which she likes.

Relative pronouns

which: refer to things

that: refer to things only in defining relative clauses (can be a replacement for which)

who: refers to people

whom: refers to people if they are the object (lijd vw/meew vw) of the clause: Professor West, whom I worked with recently, has won the Nobel Prize

whose: used with things/people to express possession (like 's does)

when: refers to time

where: refers to place

What is a defining relative clause?

Defining relative clause

These clauses give essential information so that we can identify who or what is being talked about. The relative clause follows immediately after the noun referring to the person or thing we are talking about.

• We do not put commas at the beginning and end of a defining relative clause.
• We can interchange which and that for each other.
• Sometimes we can omit the relative pronoun. This often happens when the relative pronoun is not the subject of the sentence:
  She showed me photos of the gorillias (which/that) she had studied.
  She showed me photos of the gorillas which/that lived nearby. (subject beloning to 'lived')

What is a non-defining relative clause?

Non-defining relative clause

These clauses give non-essential, extra information about something or someone.

• We have to use a comma before and after the relative clause:
  London, which has always been located on the river Thames, is my favourite city to go shoppping.
• We cannot omit the relative pronoun:
  My sister, who I live with, knows a lot about cars. = correct
  My sister, i live with, knows a lot about cars. = incorrect

So what is the main difference between the two?

The difference

A defining relative clause tells which noun we are talking about:

I like the woman who lives next door.

(If I don't say 'who lives next door', then we don't know which woman I mean).

A non-defining relative clause gives us extra information about something. We don't need this information to understand the sentence.

I live in London, which has some fantastic parks.

(Everybody knows where London is, so 'which has some fantastic parks' is extra information).

Prepositions in relative clauses

Now practise:

1. Defining or non-defining? -  https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-clauses/exercises?04
2. Make relative clauses -  https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/relative-clauses/exercises?07
3. Test 1 -  https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/relative-clauses-3
4. Test 2 -  https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/tests/relative-clauses-4

Unit 5: round it up!

1. Now do the exercises on relative clauses in Unit 5: 1-5 + corpus spot
2. For listening Unit 5, use the sound fragment here:
   
3. Do exercises 1-3 of Listening
4. Once again, check yourself! Ask any
    questions you still have about Unit 5
   and the exercises. 

Listening Unit 5