Relative clauses

Relative clauses

Relative clauses - non-defining relative clauses

Relative clauses add extra information to a sentence by defining a noun. They are usually divided into two types – defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses.

Non-defining relative clauses

Look at this sentence.

• My grandfather, who is 87, goes swimming every day.

‘who is 87’ is a non-defining relative clause. It adds extra information to the sentence. If we take the clause out of the sentence, the sentence still has the same meaning.

Look at some more examples.

• My eldest son, whose work takes him all over the world, is in Hong Kong at the moment.
• The film, which stars Tom Carter, is released on Friday.
• The car, which can reach speeds of over 300km/ph, costs over $500,000.

In the first sentence, it is clear which son is being talked about and the relative clause provides extra information. In the second sentence, the speaker thinks you know which film you are talking about, and the information about Tom Carter is just something interesting. In the third sentence, the speaker thinks you already know which car is being discussed. The information about the speed is just for interest.

Defining or non-defining?

Remember that defining relative clauses are used to add important information. The sentence would have a different meaning without the defining relative clause.

• I’m going to wear the skirt that I bought in London. 
• The skirt, which is a lovely dark blue colour, only cost £10. 

The first sentence with a defining relative clause tells us which skirt. The second sentence, with a non-defining relative clause, doesn’t tell us which skirt – it gives us more information about the skirt. The context (which is missing here) makes it clear which skirt is being talked about.

Non-defining relative clauses can use most relative pronouns (which, whose etc,) but they CAN’T use ‘that’ and the relative pronoun can never be omitted.

• The film, that stars Tom Carter, is released on Friday.

Non-defining relative clauses are more often used in written English than in spoken English. You can tell that a clause is non-defining because it is separated by commas at each end of the clause.

SPEAKING- Travelling

Travel vocabulary 

• Have you ever been abroad?
• Where have you been?
• Are you planning on going anywhere for your next vacation?
  • If so, where?
  • Who with?
  • How long will you stay?
• Are you afraid of going abroad alone?
• Could you live in another country for the rest of your life?
• Describe the most interesting person you met on one of your travels.
• What was your best trip.
• What was your worst trip.
• Did your class in high school go on a trip together?
  • If so, where did you go?
  • How long did you stay?
  • How did you get there?
• Do you have a driver's license?
• Do you like to travel with children? Why or why not?
• Do you like to travel with your mother? Why or why not?
• Do you prefer summer vacations or winter vacations?
• Do you prefer to travel alone or in a group? Why?
• Do you prefer to travel by train, bus, plane or ship?
• Do you prefer traveling by car or by plane?
• Have you ever been in a difficult situation while traveling?
• Have you ever been on an airplane?
  • How many times?
  • What airlines have you flown with?
• Have you ever been to a foreign country?
• Have you ever gotten lost while traveling? If so, tell about it.
• Have you ever hitchhiked? If so, how many times?
• Have you ever taken a package tour?
• How do you spend your time when you are on holiday and the weather is bad?
• How many countries have you been to? How many states?
• How many times have you traveled abroad?
• How much luggage do you usually carry?
• If you traveled to South America, what countries would like to visit?
• If you went to ___(Insert a country name)__, what kind of souvenirs would you buy?
• If you were going on a camping trip for a week, what 10 things would you bring? Explain why.
• What are some countries that you would never visit? Why would you not visit them?
• What are some things that you always take with you on a trip?
• What countries would you like to visit? Why?
• What countries would you most like to visit?
• What countries would you not like to visit? Why?
• What country do you most want to visit?
  • Why?
  • Do you think you will ever go there?
• What do you need before you can travel to another country?
• What is the most interesting city to visit in your country?
• What is the most interesting souvenir that you have ever bought on one of your holidays?
• What languages can you speak?
• What place do you want to visit someday?
• What was the most interesting place you have ever visited?
• What's the most beautiful place you've ever been to?
• When was the last time your traveled?
• When you are on a long car journey do you play games or sing songs to occupy your time?
  • What kind of games?
  • What songs?
• Where are you going to go the next time you travel?
  • When are you going to go?
  • Who are you going to go with?
  • How long are you going to go for?
  • What are you going to do there?
  • What kind of things do you think you will buy?
• Where did you go on your last vacation?
  • How did you go?
  • Who did you go with?
• Where did you spend your last vacation? Your summer vacation? Your Christmas vacation?
• Where will you go on your next vacation?
• Would you like to take a cruise? Where to? With who?
• Do you prefer traveling on a hovercraft or a ferry?
• Would you prefer to stay at a hotel/motel or camp while on vacation?
• Would you rather visit another country or travel within your own country?
• Would you rather go to a place where there are a lot of people or to a place where there are few people?
• Do you find more fulfillment from your leisure activities including vacations than from your job?
• Do you think the type of vacation one takes reflects one's social status?
• What are popular tourist destinations in your country?
  • Have you been to any of them?
  • Which would you recommend if you could only recommend one? Why?
• Do you prefer active or relaxing holidays? Why?
• Which is better, package tour or a tour you organize and book yourself?
• Why do you travel?
  • Why do people travel?
• Would you like to go back to the same place?
• Did you find anything of particular interest? / Did you get attracted to anything special?
• What are some benefits of travel?
  • Why do people travel?
• What is your favorite mode of travel?
• Have you travelled in business class?
• When you were a child did your family take a vacation every year?
• Do you prefer a budget or first class hotel? Why?
• Do you travel with a lot of baggage or do you like to travel light?
• What is your favorite method of travel at your destination? Train? Bus? Boat? Bicycle? Backpacking?
• What is the best kind of holiday for different ages of people? Children? Teenagers? Adults? Elderly people?
• Do you think it is a good idea to travel with friends, or alone? How about with your family?
• If you had $100,000, where would you go on holiday? How about if you had $10,000? What about $1,000?
• Which countries have you travelled to?
• Do you prefer hot countries or cool countries when you go on holiday
• Who makes the decisions when your family decides to go on holiday
• If you could choose one place to go this weekend, where would it be?
• Has the airline ever lost your luggage? What happened?
• On long flights do you usually walk around the plane to avoid health problems?
• Have you ever read an interesting question in an in-flight magazine? What was it?
• Is there any difference between young tourists and adult tourists?
• Do you think tourism will harm the earth?

St. Valetine´s activities

Reading: St. Valentine's Story

Let me introduce myself. My name is Valentine. I lived in Rome during the third century. That was long, long ago! At that time, Rome was ruled by an emperor named Claudius. I didn't like Emperor Claudius, and I wasn't the only one! A lot of people shared my feelings.
Claudius wanted to have a big army. He expected men to volunteer to join. Many men just did not want to fight in wars. They did not want to leave their wives and families. As you might have guessed, not many men signed up. This made Claudius furious. So what happened? He had a crazy idea. He thought that if men were not married, they would not mind joining the army. So Claudius decided not to allow any more marriages. Young people thought his new law was cruel. I thought it was preposterous! I certainly wasn't going to support that law!
Did I mention that I was a priest? One of my favorite activities was to marry couples. Even after Emperor Claudius passed his law, I kept on performing marriage ceremonies -- secretly, of course. It was really quite exciting. Imagine a small candlelit room with only the bride and groom and myself. We would whisper the words of the ceremony, listening all the while for the steps of soldiers.
One night, we did hear footsteps. It was scary! Thank goodness the couple I was marrying escaped in time. I was caught. (Not quite as light on my feet as I used to be, I guess.) I was thrown in jail and told that my punishment was death.
I tried to stay cheerful. And do you know what? Wonderful things happened. Many young people came to the jail to visit me. They threw flowers and notes up to my window. They wanted me to know that they, too, believed in love.
One of these young people was the daughter of the prison guard. Her father allowed her to visit me in the cell. Sometimes we would sit and talk for hours. She helped me to keep my spirits up. She agreed that I did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and going ahead with the secret marriages. On the day I was to die, I left my friend a little note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. I signed it, "Love from your Valentine."
I believe that note started the custom of exchanging love messages on Valentine's Day. It was written on the day I died, February 14, 269 A.D. Now, every year on this day, people remember. But most importantly, they think about love and friendship. And when they think of Emperor Claudius, they remember how he tried to stand in the way of love, and they laugh -- because they know that love can't be beaten!
.- Read the text and say if the following statements are True or False:

1. Many people liked Emperor Claudius but St. Valentine didn’t.
2. Soldiers weren’t allowed to get married.
3. Claudius forbade people to get married because then men didn’t want to go to the army.

.- Read the text again and answer to the following questions according to the text:

1. When and where did St Valentine live?

2. Who was the emperor at that time?

3. Did St. Valentine like him?

4. What did St. Valentine do? What was his job?

5. Why didn’t Claudius like men to get married?

6. Why was St Valentine caught and put into prison?

7. What was the punishment that the Emperor ordered for him?

8. Who visited him when he was in jail?

9. When did St Valentine write a note?

10. Who did he write the note to?

11. Why did he write it?

12. When did St Valentine die?

13.Why is St Valentine a symbol of Love?

.- Match the following words from the text (left column)with a synonym or a definition in the right column:

ShareSign up Allow Scary Stand Cheerful

RegisterPermit Have the same idea Happy and joyful Take a particular attitude Frightening

Modals review

http://www.xtec.cat/~ogodoy/sac/rephrasing/modalsex1.htm

Rewrite the following sentences so that they have the same meaning as the original. Use modal verbs. 

1. Taking my computer without saying a word to me was the wrong thing to do.

You………………..

2. It’s necessary to wear uniform to work with this firm.

You……………………………………

3. Perhaps Jane is in the garden now.

Jane……………………………………

4. It is idiot from her to take so much fat.

She……………………………………..

5. It was obligatory for them to knock at the door before entering.

They ……………………………….

6. He is definitely stressed.

He ………………………..

7. I don’t let my son stay out after 11.

My son ……………………….

8. It is good for us to practice more exercise.

We…………………………………………..

9. There’s a tiny opportunity for her to get that job.

She …………………………………

10. It wasn’t a good idea to leave the mobile on the table while she wasn’t looking.

She ……………………………………

11. We’re sure they will win the next election.

They …………………………..

12. It isn’t obligatory to knock at the door before entering.

You ………………..

13. It is forbidden to play any loud music after 12 at night.

You………………………………

14. It’s possible their parents lent them the money for their new house.

Their parents ………………………………..

15. Laws don’t allow young people to drive before they are 18.

Young people ………………………………………….

KEY

1. You shouldn’t have taken my computer.
2. You must wear a uniform to work with this firm.
3. Jane may be in the garden now.
4. She shouldn’t take so much fat.
5. They must knock at the door before entering.
6. He must be stressed.
7. My son mustn’t stay out after 11.
8. We should practice more exercise.
9. She might get the job.
10. She shouldn’t have left the mobile on the table while she wasn’t looking.
11. They must win the next election.
12. You don’t have to knock at the door before entering.
13. You mustn’t play any loud music after 12 at night.
14. Their parents may have lent them the money for their new house.
15. Young people mustn’t drive before they are 18.

Contrasting ideas

Expressing contrast and concession

Connectors are very important to make the texts we write more cohesive.

There are many different types, but today we are simply going to sonsider the ones used to express contrast or concession, that means when ideas seem to diverge.

Look at the list below:

They all introduce a note of  contrast and disagreement, but they have different ways of being used in the sentences. For example their placement may vary. Some are more often used at the beginning, some at the end and others in the middle.

Besides their position, they also require different types of completion. Note the differences in the explanation below:

Although / though / even though  (need a full clause (subject + verb).

Despite /In spite of  – take a Gerund (ing form) or noun

Despite the fact that… / In spite of the fact that …. – full clause (subject + verb)

Yet / Still /However / Nevertheless – need a comma (,) and come in the middle of two clauses.

 106_concessive_clauses_and_phrases

Shall we try a few exercises?

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

CONTRASTING IDEAS. Allthat we share

It’s easy to put people in boxes. There’s us. And there’s them.

The high earners.
And those just getting by.
Those we trust.
And those we avoid.
There’s the new Danes.
And those who have always been here.
The people from the countryside.
And those who have never seen a cow.
The religious.
And the confident.
There are those we share something with.
And those we don’t share something with.

• Welcome.
• I am going to ask you some questions today. Some might be a bit personal – but I hope you will answer them honestly.
• Who in this room was the class clown?
• Who are stepparents?

And then there’s suddenly us. We who believe in life after death.
We who have seen a UFO’s. And all of us who love to dance.

We who have been bullied.

And we who have bullied others.

And then there’s us who had sex this past week.

We who are brokenhearted.

We who are madly in love.

We who feel lonely.

We who are bisexual.

And we who acknowledge the courage of others.

We who have found the meaning of life. And those of us who have saved a life. And then there’s all of us who just love Denmark.

So maybe there’s more that brings us together than we think.

TV2Danmark All that we share.