SLIDE 1 This PowerPoint was used to review a reading
assignment and to discuss relative clauses. The reading passage was about different types of aptitude, so the quote from Albert Einstein was used to open up a discussion of the reading material.
Sentences taken from the reading passage were used to
illustrate and explain the structure of relative clauses, as presented in the students’ grammar text.
This was an effective way to incorporate the reading
material and a grammar lesson into one class.
SLIDE 2 Relative Clauses
P Ch. 6 ENL 207
SLIDE 3
SLIDE 4 Sentence Structure
Consider each of these sentences from “What is
Intelligence, Anyway?” What type of sentences are they? Pay attention to the underlined words. I received a kind of aptitude test that all soldiers
took.
I am very good at answering the type of academic
questions that are considered worthy of answers.
In a world where I could not use my academic
training, …. I would do poorly.
My intelligence… is a function of the society I live in.
These all have ADJECTIVE / RELATIVE CLAUSES
SLIDE 5
What is a relative clause?
Relative clauses, also known as adjective clauses,
are dependent clauses that give information to describe nouns or pronouns.
They begin with a relative pronoun, such as that,
which, who, whom, where, or when.
SLIDE 6
Consider this example:
I am very good at answering the type of academic
questions that are considered worthy of answers
In this sentence, that is a relative pronoun. It is
relative because it relates back to a noun (or noun phrase) previously mentioned in the sentence – this is called the antecedent.
The function of this clause is to describe the noun
phrase “the type of academic questions.”It tells us more about which type.
SLIDE 7 Consider this example:
You can think of relative clauses as combining two
sentences to make your writing more complex and interesting. I am very good at answering the type of academic
questions.
The type of academic questions are considered
worthy of answers.
To join these sentences with a relative clause,
delete the repeated noun and replace it with a relative pronoun at the beginning of the clause.
SLIDE 8 Consider this example:
You can think of relative clauses as combining two
sentences to make your writing more complex and interesting. I am very good at answering the type of academic
questions.
The type of academic questions that are considered
worthy of answers.
To join these sentences with a relative clause,
delete the repeated noun and replace it with a relative pronoun at the beginning of the clause.
SLIDE 9 Consider this example:
You can think of relative clauses as combining two
sentences to make your writing more complex and interesting. I am very good at answering the type of academic
questions.
The type of academic questions that are considered worthy
To join these sentences with a relative clause, delete the
repeated noun and replace it with a relative pronoun at the beginning of the clause.
Then insert the relative clause into the first sentence,
placing it directly after the original noun.
SLIDE 10 Consider this example:
You can think of relative clauses as combining two
sentences to make your writing more complex and interesting. I am very good at answering the type of academic
questions that are considered worthy of answers.
To join these sentences with a relative clause,
delete the repeated noun and replace it with a relative pronoun at the beginning of the clause.
SLIDE 11 Subject Relative Clauses
In many relative clauses, the relative pronoun
replaces the subject.
This is true in the example we just looked at.
I am very good at answering the type of academic
questions.
The type of academic questions that are considered
worthy of answers.
I am very good at answering the type of academic
questions that are considered worthy of answers.
In subject relative clauses, we can use the relative
pronouns who, which, and that.
SLIDE 12 Which pronoun should I use?
Use who only when referring to people. Use which and that when referring to things. Use which for information that is additional.
My favorite movie, which is amazing, is about .
Use that for information that is necessary.
The book that was translated last year was very
interesting.
Also note: commas are used with optional relative
clauses, but not with necessary clauses.
SLIDE 13
Object Relative Clauses
In some relative clauses, the relative pronoun
replaces the object of the clause instead of the subject.
Consider this example:
I received a kind of aptitude test that all soldiers took.
When we break this down into two sentences, we
see that that replaces the object of the clause: I received a kind of aptitude test. All the soldiers took a kind of aptitude test.
SLIDE 14 Object Relative Clauses
To form an object relative clause, delete the second
repeated noun and replace it with one of the object relative pronouns: whom, which, or that. (Note that who is also used, but only informally.)
Even though the noun is the object in the original
clause, it should be placed at the beginning of the relative clause: I received a kind of aptitude test. All the soldiers took a kind of aptitude test. I received a kind of aptitude test that all the soldiers
took.
SLIDE 15 Which pronoun should I use?
The same rules for subject relative pronoun use are
also true for object pronoun use, with two additions: who is only used informally as an object pronoun. that can be dropped from necessary object relative
clauses: The book that I read yesterday was very interesting. The book __ I read yesterday was very interesting.
SLIDE 16 Relative adverbs
Relative clauses can also be used with when or where to
provide additional information about a time or place.
For example:
In a world where I could not use my academic training, …. I
would do poorly.
In this case, the two separate clauses would be:
In a world . . . I would do poorly. I could not use my academic training in a world.
We use where at the beginning of the relative clause to
replace the second “in a world”.
SLIDE 17
Practice
Read the paragraph on pp. 128-129 of P. Find two examples of relative clauses.
SLIDE 18 Make a list of holidays
Religious Non-religious
SLIDE 19 Write sentences
Choose one of the holidays from our list. Write several sentences to define the holiday you
choose. Use at least 5 relative clauses:
Two subject relative clauses Two object relative clauses One adverb clause
