Bailey.Academic_Writing

3.15 Relative Pronouns
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2.3 Cohesion
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2.5 Definitions
1. Relative pronouns (who/whose/where/which/that) introduce a
relative clause.
Saturn, which is encircled by rings, is much larger than
the Earth.
The college where he studied has been closed down.
The teacher who interviewed me was a specialist in
ancient music.
Dr Yamada, whose lecture I attended, presented the
prizes.
He wrote about the area that I was interested in.
Which relative pronouns are used for:
a) places? b) people? c) things? d) possession?
2. Insert a suitable relative pronoun in these sentences and
underline the clause.
a) The book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . he wanted had been borrowed
by someone else.
b) Beijing, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . she studied for 6 months, used to
be called Peking.
c) Charlie Chaplin, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . was born in England,
was a great film comedian.
d) A hydrometer is an instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . is used to
measure density in liquids.
e) Few people have heard of the man ...............
invented television.
f) Mercury, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . is a liquid element, is used in
many industrial processes.
3. As can be seen from the examples above, there are two kinds
of relative clauses:
a) those which define the subject. In this case the relative
clause must be included.
The college where he studied has been closed down.
b) those which give additional details. Here the relative
clause could be removed and the meaning would still be
clear.
Saturn, which is encircled by rings, is much larger than
the Earth.
In type (b) the relative clause is surrounded by commas (,)
brackets ( ) or dashes (–).
Decide which of the sentences in (2) define the subject.