Hi, in today’s lesson we are going to be learning about reduced relative clauses.
This is an advanced topic and will improve the quality of your written English.
Excellent for those of you taking exams like IELTS and Cambridge First, Advanced or above.
But before we start, I have a favour to ask.
Please, please, if you like my lessons, subscribe to my channel,
It really helps the channel grow and that way I can keep teaching you English for free.
Thank you so much.
So, what is a reduced relative clause?
A reduced relative clause is a clause with a participle,
either a present participle or past
and no relative pronoun.
For example: There are two children who are waiting in the classroom.
The relative clause is “who are waiting in the classroom.”
We can reduce this relative clause and say:
There are two children waiting in the classroom.
This is an example with a present participle.
or
The bananas which had been dipped in chocolate were really yummy.
Here the relative clause is “which had been dipped in chocolate.”
It can be reduced to: The bananas dipped in chocolate were really yummy.
And this is an example with a past participle.
We use the present participle in place of an active verb
and a past participle in place of a passive verb.
For a more in-depth lesson on participle clauses,
click the link above now
or down in the comment section after you have finished watching this lesson.
For example. There were teachers who were shouting,
this is an active verb,
and students who were running,
another active verb,
out of the school building.
We can reduce the relative clause, “who were shouting” and “who were running” to
"There were teachers shouting and children running out of the building."
Here we have a present participle in a reduced relative clause.
Whereas in this sentence:
Ron only drinks coffee that is made from fresh coffee beans that are grown organically.
We can reduce the relative clause “that is made” and “that is grown” to
Ron only drinks coffee made from fresh coffee beans grown organically.
Here we have a past participle.
We can use participles instead of verbs referring to the past, present or future.
For example: The winner is the person who scored,
here this refers to the past,
the most goals in the game.
or
The winner is the person who scores,
here this refers to the present,
the most goals in the game.
and, "The winner is the person will score,
here this refers to the future,
the most goals in the game."
Instead of all these different tenses we can say.
The winner is the person scoring the most goals in the game.
This works for all three tenses and can refer to the past, present or future.
OK, here's another example:
The Champion's Cup is for the most goals which were scored,
here this refers to the past,
in the match.
Or,
The Champion's Cup is for the most goals which are scored,
here this refers to the present,
in the match.
Or,
The Champion's Cup is for the most goals which will be scored
here this refers to the future,
in the match.
This can be written far more simply as a reduced relative clause:
We could say:
The Champion's Cup is for the most goals scored in the match.
We can use a participle from a simple passive to describe a general situation.
For example:
I am worred about the man held in prison without a trial.
This is a reduced relative clause instead of writing the defining relative clause “who is held”).
If we want to emphasise that a situation is continuing,
we can use a participle from a continuous passive.
For example:
I am worried about the man being held in prison without a trial
Again, this is a reduced relative clause
instead of writing the defining relative clause, “who is being held.”
If we want to emphasise that a situation has continued from an earlier time,
we can use a participle from a perfect passive.
For example:
THERE IS AN ERROR ON THE SLIDE! I am worried about the man having BEEN held in prison without a trial.
This, again, is reduced relative clause instead of writing the defining relative clause,
“who has been held”.
Participles can also be used in non-defining relative clauses,
usually in written descriptions and narratives.
For example:
The old van, trailing black smoke, drove off towards desert.
This is a reduced relative clause,
instead of the non-defining relative clause, “which was trailing smoke.”
or
Brian Smith, nicknamed Big Bear was my favourite uncle.
This is a reduced relative clause instead of the non-defining relative clause, “who was nicknamed Big Bear.”
In negative reduced relative clauses, we put not before the participle.
For example:
My friends, not having much money, never went out in the evening.
This is a reduced relative clause instead of the non-defining relative clause, “who didn’t have much money.”
Or
I’d prefer trousers not made with synthetic materials if you have any.
This, again, is a reduced relative clause instead of the non-defining relative clause,
“which are not made with synthetic materials”)
We can use some adjectives and adjective phrases after nouns.
in a way that is similar to reduced relative clauses.
For example; There was one table available in the restaurant.
Instead of “one table which was available” or
Titanium is a metal, silver in colour,
often used in making jewellery.
Instead of which is silver in colour.
Other adjectives that can be used like this are:
necessary, possible, present, ready, responsible and suitable.
However, we don’t use a participle instead of a verb that describes a single or sudden action.
For example: we would say, "There was a sudden noise that woke me up."
and not there was a sudden noise waking me up.
and we don’t use participles instead of a verb with a subject that is different from the relative pronoun.
For example:
There are several bags that we need from the house.
and not, "There are several bags needing from the house."
Here the subject in the main clause is “There” and the relative pronoun is we.
The subjects are different so we can’t use a participle
or
This isn’t the exam that I was given before
not, "This isn’t the exam given before."
Here the subject in the main clause is “This” and the relative pronoun is I.
The subjects are different so we can’t use a participle.
Finally, we usually use an infinitive, not a participle, after a noun proceeded by the adjectives, first, second third etc.
For example: Diane Nyad was the first person to swim from Florida to Cuba.
in other words, who swam from Florida to Cuba.
and not Diane Nyad was the first person swimming from Florida to Cuba
OK, so now it’s your turn:
Make this text shorter by creating reduced relative clauses where possible.
Let’s do the first one together:
You can reduce the first relative clause by getting rid of who will be.
So it would read, "For all you food-lovers sitting at home.... "
Write you answers to the rest of the text down below
and I promise to give you feedback on your answers.
So, that's it for today.
Remember to like this video if you found ot useful.
and share it with your friends and colleagues learning English.
Take care and see you very soon. Bye, bye.