Sentence Structure: Clauses: Relative Clauses
Introduction
Imagine you’re reading a captivating story, and you come across a sentence describing a character so vividly that you can picture them standing right in front of you. Chances are, that sentence used a relative clause to add detail and depth. Relative clauses are not just a tool for novelists; they are an essential part of everyday communication, allowing us to add information, clarify, and specify without starting a new sentence. Understanding how to use relative clauses effectively can transform your writing from simple to sophisticated, making your emails, essays, and conversations more engaging and precise.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
- Identify and differentiate between defining and non-defining relative clauses.
- Use relative pronouns correctly to connect the main clause and the relative clause.
- Apply relative clauses to add detail and clarity to their sentences in both writing and speaking contexts.
- Edit sentences to include relative clauses for more complex and detailed expression.
Explanation
Relative clauses are types of dependent clauses that provide additional information about a noun in a sentence. They are connected to the main clause using relative pronouns such as who, whom, whose, which, and that. There are two main types of relative clauses: defining (restrictive) and non-defining (non-restrictive).
Defining relative clauses are essential to the meaning of the sentence because they specify which person or thing we are talking about. For example, "The book that I read last week was fascinating." Here, ‘that I read last week’ is a defining relative clause giving essential information about ‘the book.’
Non-defining relative clauses, on the other hand, add extra information about a noun already identified in the context. They are separated by commas. For example, "My brother, who lives in New York, is visiting us next month." The clause ‘who lives in New York’ gives additional information about ‘my brother’ but is not essential to the sentence’s meaning.
Visual aids like charts showing the relationship between the main clause and the relative clause, with color coding for the relative pronouns, can greatly help in understanding how these components fit together.
Guided Practice
Start with identifying whether the relative clause in a sentence is defining or non-defining. For example, is the relative clause in the sentence "The woman who called yesterday is my aunt" defining or non-defining?
Progress to exercises where students fill in the blank with the correct relative pronoun or choose between ‘that’ and ‘which’ for inanimate objects, bearing in mind the distinction between defining and non-defining clauses.
Finally, move on to sentence transformation exercises, where students combine two simple sentences into one complex sentence using a relative clause, for example, turning "She is my teacher. She is very kind." into "She is my teacher, who is very kind."
Interactive Activities
Grammar games can be a great way to reinforce the lesson. A "Relative Clause Race" where teams compete to correctly form sentences with relative clauses from scrambled words can make learning dynamic and fun.
In pairs, students could take turns writing sentences about a mutual friend or a famous person, using both types of relative clauses, then reading them aloud for the other to guess who it is.
Using authentic texts, like a short article or a song, students can work in groups to identify and analyze the relative clauses, discussing how they add to the overall meaning and detail of the text.
Assessment and Feedback
Throughout the lesson, keep checking for understanding through quick thumbs up/down signals or short quizzes on identifying relative clauses and choosing the correct relative pronoun.
A short test or a writing assignment where students have to use a mixture of defining and non-defining relative clauses in a short essay or story can serve as a summative assessment.
Provide specific, meaningful feedback focusing on how effectively they’ve used relative clauses to add detail and clarity, and offer strategies for improvement where needed.
Outro
In summary, mastering relative clauses unlocks the potential to make your writing and speech more detailed, engaging, and precise. As an extension activity, consider writing a character description or a short biography of someone you admire, using a variety of relative clauses to add depth and detail. Remember, the more you practice, the more natural your use of relative clauses will become in your everyday communication.
