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09 - Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
87 views

09 - Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clauses

Material de apoio inglês

Uploaded by

Sk y
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 11

Let’s recap…

Relative pronouns
Who Refers to people
e.g. Ana is someone who helps others.

Which Refers to things or animals


e.g. I adopted two pets which are lovely.

Whose Refers to possession


e.g. I have a friend whose mother is a fashion designer.

Where Refers to places


e.g. The house where I used to live was demolished.
Relative pronouns
WHO or WHICH
can be replaced by THAT:
Ana is someone that helps others.
I adopted two pets that are lovely.

But only use “that” if the clause is defining!

What??????
Relative clauses
Non-defining relative clauses

• add extra information to the sentence


• need commas (,)
• never use that

e.g. My uncle, who is 56, goes jogging every day.

“who is 56” – if we take the clause out of the


sentence, the sentence still makes sense.
Relative clauses
Defining relative clauses

• add important information to the sentence


• no commas (,)

e.g. I’m going to wear the skirt that I bought in London.

The defining relative clause tells us which skirt. If


we took the clause out of the sentence, it wouldn’t
make sense.
Can you see the book Can you see the book,
which is yellow? which is yellow?
The Defining Relative The Non-Defining
Clause refers to one of Relative Clause gives
the books, drawing your additional information
attention to it. about a particular thing.
There are no other books
to refer to.
Choose the right sentence (defining or non-defining ).

I have 3 brothers. One of my brothers lives in


London, but the others don’t.

1. My brother who lives in London has two children.


2. My brother, who lives in London, has two children.

This is a defining relative clause, so we can’t use commas


because the information is essential for the meaning of the
sentence. The defining relative clause tells us which brother.
Choose the right sentence (defining or non-defining ).

I only have one sister.


1. My sister who lives in Paris is a model.
2. My sister, who lives in Paris, is a model.

This is a non-defining relative clause, so we use


commas. It’s non-defining because it’s an extra
information about the sister, that we already know about.
Choose the right sentence (defining or non-defining ).

All students left early. They all asked to leave early.


1. The students who asked to leave early left the room ten minutes
before the end of the lesson.
2. The students, who asked to leave early, left the room ten minutes
before the end of the lesson.

This is a non-defining relative clause, so we use


commas. We get extra information about the students,
because they all decided to leave early.
Choose the right sentence (defining or non-defining ).

Only the students that asked to leave early, left the room
early.
1. The students who asked to leave early left the room ten minutes
before the end of the lesson.
2. The students, who asked to leave early, left the room ten minutes
before the end of the lesson.

This is a defining relative clause. The defining relative


clause tells us which students left early, because not
all the students left early.
SB - page 82

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