CLASS – March 15 Theory Class LL.

B + LAW ENTRANCE 2025

Dishan Senarathne ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Attorney-At-Law
LL.M.Cardiff.Uk bx.%Sis NdIdj
(SLIM) 8.30am – 11.30am

Phrase Vs. Clause bx.%Sis NdIdj

Phrases and clauses are both used to build sentences.

A phrase is a group of words acting as a unit that does not include a subject and a verb (predicate).
A clause is a group of words acting as a unit that does have both a subject and a verb (predicate).

Clauses
One clause sentence
✓ I graduated last year.

Two clause sentence

• I want to buy a phone, but I don’t have enough money.
Independent clauses Independent clauses

• After I finished my homework, I went to bed.

Subordinate Clause Main clauses

A Main Clause functions on its own to make a meaningful sentence and looks much like a regular sentence.
A Subordinate Clause cannot function on its own because it leaves an idea or thought unfinished.

Subordinate Clauses further have 2 types.

1. Noun Clause
A noun clause is a type of subordinate clause (dependent clause) that acts as a noun in a sentence.
How he died was a mystery.
Noun Clause Main Clause

how, that, what, whatever, when, where, whether, which, whichever, who,
whoever, whom, whomever, why

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Subject of a Sentence
For example:
• What she said is not true.
• How he died was a mystery.

Object of a Verb
For example:
• I know that he will come soon.
• He checked whether the bill was correct.
• She told me how she had earned money.

Relative clauses
The relative pronouns:
The relative pronouns are:

Subject Object Possessive

who whom, who whose
which which whose
that that

We use who and whom for people, and which for things.
We use that for people or things.
We use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses, which tell us more about people and things.

Relative clauses to post-modify a noun

We use relative clauses to post-modify a noun - to make clear which person or thing we are talking about.
In these clauses we can have the relative pronoun who, which, whose or that

❖ As subject (see Clauses Sentences and Phrases)

Eg:-
Isn’t that the woman who lives across the road from you?
The police said the accident that happened last night was unavoidable
The newspaper reported that the tiger which killed its keeper had been put down.

WARNING:
The relative pronoun is the subject of the clause.
We do not repeat the subject:
The woman who [she] lives across the road.
The tiger which [it] killed its keeper.

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Exercise 1
❖ Form relative clauses using each couple of sentences.
1. The man lives next door. He is a sicientist.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. This is a brand new car. I bought it from Toyota .

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

❖ As object of a clause (see Clauses, Sentences and Phrases)

Eg:- Have you seen those cars that we owned once?
You shouldn’t follow everything that you are instructed to do.
The house that we bought in California had been owned by Michael Jackson..
• Sometimes we use whom instead of who when the relative pronoun is the object:
Eg:- Have you seen those kids whom we met on holiday?
• When the relative pronoun is object of its clause we sometimes leave it out:
Eg:- Have you seen those cars we owned once?
You shouldn’t follow everything you are instructed to do.
The house we bought in California had been owned by Michael Jackson.

WARNING:
The relative pronoun is the object of the clause.
We do not repeat the object:
Have you seen those cars we owned them once?
The house we bought it in California had been owned by Michael Jackson..
The food was definitely the thing I enjoyed [it] most about our holiday

Exercise 2
Form relative clauses using each couple of sentences.
1. Miss. Ruzo is a Scientist. I met her at the laboratary.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. The movies are great. We select the movies..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3. Donald Trump has been elected as the president of the US. He is imposing strict rules.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

❖ As object of a preposition.
• When the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition, we usually put the preposition after the verb.:
▪
Eg:-
You were talking to a woman → Who was the woman who you were talking to?
My parents live in that house → That’s the house that my parents live in.
` You were talking about a book. I haven’t read it.
→ I haven’t read the book which you were talking about.
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 • When the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition, we usually leave it out:
Eg:- Who was the woman you were talking to?
That’s the house my parents live in.

• Sometimes we use whom instead of who:

Eg:- Who was that woman whom you were talking about?

• When we use whom or which the preposition sometimes comes at the beginning of the clause:
Eg:- I haven’t read the book about which you were talking.

Possessive Relative Pronoun

We can use the possessive form, whose, in a relative clause:
Eg:-
I met a man. His brother works in Moscow. → I met a man whose brother works in Moscow

Relative Adverbs
The relative adverbs When, Where, why, and what are used to replace a preposition + the relative pronoun
which.
Eg:- Sri Lanka won the world cup in 1996. It was the year when we faced the A/L exam.
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day when the tsunami happened.
Eg:- Do you remember the place where we caught the train?
Stratford-upon-Avon is the town where Shakespeare was born.
but we can leave out the word when:
Eg:- England won the world cup in 1996. It was the year we got married.
I remember my twentieth birthday. It was the day the tsunami happened.

Exercise 3
❖ Check if the following sentences are correct or incorrect. Correct and rewrite the incorrect ones, and
tick right against the correct sentences.

1. The flight which we travelled has arrived at Colombo late.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. The office in where we are working is well-designed.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………
3. We saw the wood which the firewood has started.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Using "which" to give more information

• We often use the relative pronoun which to say something about a clause:
Eg:- She was usually late, which always annoyed her teachers.
We’ve missed our train, which means it may take longer to Nuwara Eliya by bus.

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Exercise 4
❖ Form relative clauses using each couple of sentences
1. She is the doctor. She treated my father.

2. They bought a house. The house is near the beach.

3. He wrote a novel. It became a bestseller.

4. The lawyer handled my case. He is very experienced.

5. The restaurant serves Italian food. It is very popular in the city.

Exercise 5
❖ Fill in the blanks using who, whose, which, when, where or why.

1. This is the library ___________ you can borrow rare books.

2. The day ___________ we first met was unforgettable.
3. The students ___________ scored the highest marks will receive awards.
4. Paris, ___________ is known as the City of Light, attracts millions of tourists every year.
5. Can you explain the reason ___________ you were late for the meeting?.