Grammar ~53 min of the core left

Describe people and places exactly

After this lesson you can

I can add a description to a noun — one that tells you which, and one that adds extra information — and I understand the difference between them.

Start the lesson Core 53 min · steps: 6 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

15 min

In A2 #26 you joined two sentences with who, which, that and described a person or a thing in more detail. Then all the clauses were of one kind. In fact there are two kinds, and a comma tells them apart.

A defining clause — without commas. It answers the question "which one exactly?" and picks the thing out from others. Without it, you don't know who is meant:

The woman who lives next door is a nurse. — Which woman? The one who lives next door.

A non-defining clause — between commas. We already know who or what is meant, and the clause only tells us something more about it. If you take it out, the meaning doesn't suffer:

My mother, who is seventy, still works. — I have only one mother; the clause simply adds her age.

The test: leave the clause out. If it is still clear who or what is meant, the clause is non-defining, and you need commas. If not, it is defining, without commas.

Compare. The same words, but a different meaning:

My brother who lives in Italy is a doctor.	I have several brothers; I mean the one who lives in Italy.
My brother, who lives in Italy, is a doctor.	I have one brother; the clause just adds where he lives.

What else is different:

	defining	non-defining
commas	no	yes
that instead of who and which	possible	not possible
the relative word can be left out	yes, if a new subject comes after it	no

The film (that) we saw was boring — you can drop that, because we comes after it. In a non-defining clause the relative word always stays: The film, which we saw last week, was boring. Non-defining clauses are more frequent in writing; in conversation people often say two separate sentences instead.

All the relative words:

	for	example
who	people	the woman who called
which	things and animals	the car which I bought
that	people and things, only in a defining clause	the book that you lent me
whose	possession: his, her, its, their	the man whose car was stolen
where	a place	the town where I grew up
when	a time	the summer when we met

whose replaces his, her, their, its: I met a woman. Her son goes to my school. → I met a woman whose son goes to my school. A noun comes straight after whose, with no article. It works for things too: a house whose windows face the sea — although people more often say a house with windows facing the sea.

where or which. where means "in which", "at which" and stands for a whole place. But if the verb in the clause has its own object — you visited what, you saw what — you need which or that:

the town where I live	live where? — where
the town (that) I visited	visited what? — that or nothing

The preposition goes to the end. In many languages the preposition comes before the relative word: French l'homme avec qui je travaille, German der Mann, mit dem ich arbeite. In English it stays with its verb, at the end of the clause: the man (who) I work with, the flat (that) we live in, the people I spoke to. The version the man with whom I work exists, but it sounds very formal.

when is often left out after time words: I remember the day (when) we met.

More examples:

Edinburgh, which is the capital of Scotland, has a famous festival.	Edinburgh — non-defining: there is only one Edinburgh.
The flat we live in is quite small.	No relative word; the preposition in at the end.
Is that the café where you had breakfast?	where — the place of the breakfast.
July is the month when most people go on holiday.	when — a time.

Don't say this. ✗ The book which I bought it yesterday is good → ✓ The book which I bought yesterday is good. The object of the clause is already named by which; a second it is not needed.

Check yourself. Do you need commas in My father who is a doctor works in Leeds? Why can't you say the town where I visited? How do you join the people and I work with them into one phrase without whom?

show the answers

yes — you have only one father, and the clause only adds information: My father, who is a doctor, works in Leeds; visit has an object, so you need that, which or nothing: the town (that) I visited; the people I work with / the people who I work with / the people that I work with.

Common learner errors

written for your language

A comma out of habit

German, Polish and Czech always separate a relative clause with commas. In English a comma changes the meaning. The students, who live in the city centre, pay more means that all the students live in the centre and all of them pay more. To say "those students who live in the centre", use no commas: The students who live in the city centre pay more.

that in a non-defining clause

✗ My brother, that lives in Italy, is a doctor

✓ My brother, who lives in Italy, is a doctor

French qui, Spanish que and German der work with and without commas, so that seems just as universal. But after a comma there is never that — only who or which.

where or what instead of that

✗ This is the town where I visited → ✓ This is the town I visited: where already means "in which", so it can't be the object of visit. ✗ The film what we saw was boring → ✓ The film (that) we saw was boring: what means "the thing that" and does not come after a noun.

who her instead of whose

✗ I met a woman who her son goes to my school

✓ I met a woman whose son goes to my school

Arabic, Hebrew and Persian say "a woman that her son…". In English one word, whose, does both jobs.

The preposition before who

✗ the people with who I work

✓ the people I work with

French avec qui, Spanish con quien and German mit denen put the preposition first. In English it goes to the end, after its verb.

Pronunciation

3 min

The commas of a non-defining clause can be heard — they are pauses:

My brother ‖ who lives in Italy ‖ is a doctor.

The clause itself sounds a little lower and faster, like a remark in brackets. In a defining clause there is no pause, it all goes as one phrase:

My brother who lives in Italy is a doctor.

This is a rare case when a punctuation mark can be heard: by ear the two sentences differ precisely in the pauses.

whose /huːz/ sounds exactly like who's. that in a relative clause is unstressed, /ðət/: the book that you lent me — /ðə ˈbʊk ðət juː ˈlent miː/.

Text

5 min

The town where I grew up is on the north-east coast of England, about an hour from Newcastle. It's the kind of place that most people drive through without stopping.

My grandfather, who was born there in 1938, worked at the port all his life. The port, which was once the busiest on that part of the coast, closed in the eighties, and many families lost their main income.

We lived in a narrow house that looked straight out at the sea. The room I slept in was at the top, and on windy nights I could hear the waves. The house has been sold twice since then, and the people who live there now have painted it bright blue.

Last summer I went back for a weekend. In a café near the harbour I met an old man whose father had worked with my grandfather. He remembered the winter when the harbour froze — something my grandfather had told me about, but I had never quite believed. We talked for two hours, and before I left he showed me an old photo that he kept in his wallet: both our families on the beach, all smiling at the camera.

Reading aloud

Exercises

30 min

1. Put in who, which, whose, where or when.

The town I grew up is on the coast
The man car was stolen called the police
I'll never forget the day we met
My grandmother, is ninety, still lives alone
Our flat, is on the fifth floor, has no lift
Is this the café you had breakfast?
She's the colleague I told you about
I met a girl brother plays for Arsenal

Show the answers

where; whose; when / that / —; who; which; where; who / that / —; whose

2. Join the two sentences into one.

I met a man. + His father knew my grandfather.
My sister lives in Rome. + She is a teacher. (I have one sister)
This is the house. + I was born in this house. (where)
The film was boring. + We saw it last night.
Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. + It has a famous festival.
The people are very friendly. + I work with them.
I remember the summer. + We went to Wales that summer. (when)
The hotel was very expensive. + We stayed in it.

Show the answers

I met a man whose father knew my grandfather; My sister, who lives in Rome, is a teacher / My sister, who is a teacher, lives in Rome; This is the house where I was born / This is the house I was born in / This is the house that I was born in; The film we saw last night was boring / The film that we saw last night was boring / The film which we saw last night was boring; Edinburgh, which is the capital of Scotland, has a famous festival / Edinburgh, which has a famous festival, is the capital of Scotland; The people I work with are very friendly / The people who I work with are very friendly / The people that I work with are very friendly; I remember the summer when we went to Wales / I remember the summer we went to Wales; The hotel we stayed in was very expensive / The hotel that we stayed in was very expensive / The hotel which we stayed in was very expensive / The hotel where we stayed was very expensive

3. Rewrite, adding commas

My mother who is a nurse works at night.
The woman who lives next door is a nurse.
London which is the capital of the UK is very expensive.
The book that you lent me was great.
Our neighbours who moved here last year have two dogs. (we have no other neighbours)

Show the answers

My mother, who is a nurse, works at night; The woman who lives next door is a nurse; London, which is the capital of the UK, is very expensive; The book that you lent me was great; Our neighbours, who moved here last year, have two dogs

4. Error correction.

My brother, that lives in Italy, is a doctor.
This is the town where I visited last year.
The film what we saw was boring.
The man which lives next door is a pilot.
The book which I bought it yesterday is very good.
I met a woman who her son goes to my school.

Show the answers

My brother, who lives in Italy, is a doctor; This is the town I visited last year / This is the town that I visited last year / This is the town which I visited last year; The film that we saw was boring / The film we saw was boring / The film which we saw was boring; The man who lives next door is a pilot / The man that lives next door is a pilot; The book which I bought yesterday is very good / The book that I bought yesterday is very good / The book I bought yesterday is very good; I met a woman whose son goes to my school

5. Say it in English.

Each line describes a situation in simple words. Say it in one sentence with the forms of this lesson. 1) You grew up in a town. The town is by the sea. 2) Your father was born in 1950. He still works. You have only one father. 3) Show someone a man. Somebody stole his car. 4) You work with some people. They are very friendly. 5) One day you and your family moved house. You remember that day.

Show the answers

The town where I grew up is by the sea / The town I grew up in is by the sea; My father, who was born in 1950, still works / My father, who was born in 1950, is still working; This is the man whose car was stolen / That's the man whose car was stolen; The people I work with are very friendly / The people who I work with are very friendly; I remember the day we moved / I remember the day when we moved

6. Describe the place where you grew up.

Four or five sentences: at least one defining clause, one non-defining clause and one clause with whose, where or when.

Example: I grew up in a small town where everybody knew everybody. Our school, which was built in the sixties, was next to the river. My best friend was a boy whose parents ran the bakery. The house we lived in has been sold.

Summary

Covered: defining and non-defining clauses and the role of the comma, that only in a defining clause, when the relative word can be left out, whose, where against which, when, the preposition at the end of the clause. Next — lesson 18: review of lessons 13–17.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 90

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

15 words

grow up /ˌɡrəʊ ˈʌp/ to become an adult (I grew up in a small town)
coast /kəʊst/ the land next to the sea
port /pɔːt/ a town or a place where ships come in and are loaded
harbour /ˈhɑːbə/ an area of water by the coast where boats are safe
narrow /ˈnærəʊ/ not wide
wave /weɪv/ a line of water that moves across the sea towards the shore
windy /ˈwɪndi/ with a lot of wind
freeze /friːz/ to become ice
income /ˈɪnkʌm/ the money you get from work or in other ways
whose /huːz/ of whom; which person's
nurse /nɜːs/ a person who looks after ill people in a hospital
capital /ˈkæpɪtl/ the main city of a country, where the government is
pilot /ˈpaɪlət/ a person who flies a plane
face /feɪs/ to have its windows or front towards something (a house that faces the sea)
all his life /ˌɔːl hɪz ˈlaɪf/ for all the years he lived

Writing

Six sentences about the place where you grew up, or about a person who means a lot to you. Three relative clauses: one defining and two non-defining.

Example

The village my grandparents lived in is in the hills. My grandmother, who was a teacher, knew every family there. She worked at the village school for thirty years. Her neighbour, whose garden was full of roses, always gave us apples. The house was sold after she died. I still have her letters.

Checklist

a defining clause without commas, a non-defining one between commas?
No that in a non-defining clause?
where only where the verb has no object of its own?
Is the preposition at the end of the clause?

The draft is saved on this device

Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

Got a feature idea?

Send idea