Module II. Unit I

Grammar Relative clauses (who, which, that)

We can use relative clauses to join two sentences or to give more information about something. We use relative clauses to describe people, things, time, places or reasons. Relative pronoun comes after the noun it describes.

Example:

The boy who/that won the prize was happy.  

Those jeans which/that you want to buy are really expensive.

Relative pronouns and adverbs

Relative clauses can be identifying (огра­ни­чи­тель­ные) or non-identifying (рас­про­стра­ни­тель­ные). Identifying clauses give essential information. The sentence will not be complete without them. In writing, we don’t use commas in defining relative clauses:

This is the new car that I bought yesterday. – Это новая ма­ши­на, ко­то­рую я купил вчера.

The ring which he bought for her is beautiful. – Коль­цо, ко­то­рое он купил для нее, пре­крас­но.

Not: The ring, which he bought for her is beautiful.

The book that you see on the table cost me twenty pounds. – Книга, ко­то­рую ты ви­дишь на столе, сто­и­ла мне два­дцать фун­тов.

Non-identifying clauses are more often used in written English than in spoken English. They give extra information and it is not necessary to understand the sense of the sentence. In writing, we use commas around non-defining relative clauses. We don’t use that to introduce a non-defining relative clause. Example:

The school, where I studied, is in the centre of the city. – Школа, где я учил­ся, в цен­тре го­ро­да.

The textbooks, which the students like, have lots of helpful examples. – В учеб­ни­ках, ко­то­рые нра­вят­ся сту­ден­там, очень много по­лез­ных при­ме­ров. 

John, who plays football, is always busy at weekends. – Джон, ко­то­рый иг­ра­ет в фут­бол, очень занят на вы­ход­ных.

Exercises

1. Join two sentences using a relative pronoun. Example: I wrote to the friend. He had a birthday last week. – I wrote to the friend who/that had a birthday last week.  

1. I bought a house. It was nice.

2. Alice has got a friend. He dances well.

3. He received the letter. He was waiting for it.

4. Max has become an actor. You met him last year.  

5. I was happy to get a letter from my friend. He has been travelling around the world.

6. This dress costs a lot of money. It has a handmade embroidery.

7. I forgot to print the article. I wrote it yesterday.

8. The boy was sad. His bike was broken.

2. Combine the sentences using a relative clause. Use relatvie pronouns only where necessary. Note that you have to use commas in some of the sentences.

A holiday in Scotland

1. We spent our holiday in Scotland last year. Scotland is in the north of Great Britain. Last year we spent our holidays in Scotland, which is in the north of Great Britain.

2. People live in Scotland. They are called Scots. The people

3. We first went to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. We first

4. Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh. He wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories. Arthur Conan Doyle

5. Then we visited a lake. It is in the Highlands. The lake

6. Loch Ness is 37 km long. People know it for its friendly monster. Loch Ness

7. There we met an old man. He told us that he had seen Nessie. An old man

8. We then travelled to a mountain. The mountain is near the town of Fort William. We then

9. The mountain is the highest mountain in Great Britain. It is called Ben Nevis. The mountain

10. I sent you a postcard. It was written on the summit of Ben Nevis. The postcard

3. Translate the sentences into English:

1) Муж­чине, ко­то­рый живет по со­сед­ству, 60 лет. 2) Маль­чик, ко­то­рый по­те­рял свой днев­ник, очень невни­ма­тель­ный.  3) Иг­руш­ки, ко­то­рые лежат на столе, мои. 4) Книга, ко­то­рую я читаю, очень ин­те­рес­ная. 5) Я не знаю ни­ко­го, чьи ро­ди­те­ли были бы учи­те­ля­ми. 6) Мама вы­бра­ла про­дук­ты, ко­то­рые были де­шев­ле. 7) Те люди, ко­то­рые мало спят, чаще под­вер­же­ны пе­ре­па­дам на­стро­е­ния. 8) Спортс­ме­ны, ко­то­рые много тре­ни­ру­ют­ся, по­беж­да­ют на со­рев­но­ва­ни­ях.