Relative Clauses in Academic Writing: An overview

I. Revision exercise:
What’s wrong with the following sentences?

1. The manager had to lay off the workers who they hired last month.

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2. The class has 15 students, most of them are 16 years old.

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3. She passed the exam which made her parents very happy.
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4. This is the house in that we stay last year.

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5. There are 65 people participate in the competition.

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II. Lead-in question:

- Do you use relative clauses when writing?
- How do you use relative clauses when writing?

III. Practice:
Task 1: Fill-in-the-blanks
1. The prices increased dramatically, ___ plenty of reduce their
expenses. (make)
 2. The manager ___ represent a wide variety of opportunities ___
can be given to those ___ work hard.
3. There was an earthquake in this area last month, ___ causes the
inhabitants to be homeless, ____ (inflict) serious damage on the old buildings
___ (build) hundreds of years ago.
4. The number of students ___ (enroll) in the course increased
twofold, ___ surprised the teachers since the one ___ (expect) was a lot smaller.
5. There are 500 employees ___ (work) in this company, ___
(constitute) 20% of the total number in this area.

Task 2: Identify the other 10 Relative Clauses in the following

paragraph. Which ones are reduced?

Two variables included (that are included) in the IPUMS

dataset are educational attainment, representing the current (or completed) level
of education of every person in the household, and the variable indicating the
number of people in each household. Those individuals who have no education
information listed are excluded from the sample. In this analysis, the number of
children born to a mother is used as a proxy for the number of siblings that a
child has, and in this case the number of children born is interpreted as a
measurement of a family size. It is important to note the assumptions arising from
the use this measurement. In certain cases, some of those children born to a
mother may no longer be alive, or some of these children may be half brothers or
sisters that live in different households.
 Task 3: Combine the following sentences into one sentence using
relative clauses. Keep them as short as possible.

1. The storm reaches the village. It causes great damage to the houses.
Old people live in the houses. All the old people were safe.
2. There are two groups of students in the school. One group chooses to
go to school by buses. One group chooses bikes as their vehicles. This makes
the teachers conduct a survey. The survey is designed to ask for their reasons.
3. Space exploration is still limited by the lack of technology. This prevents
astronomers from understanding the universe. The understanding allows them to
formulate theories about the origin of the universe. The origin has been a
mystery.
4. John gave me a book. The book was bought last month. This helps me
prepare for my final exam. The exam, in my opinion, is extremely difficult.
5. We carefully checked the names. The names were listed on the list. The
list is in the school yard. It was made by Mr. Nick. He was our geography
teacher.

IV. Homework:
Join the sentences by changing the second sentence of each pair
into a defining relative clause.

1. The pipeline has been severed. It carries the town's water supplies.

2. The exhibition was not very interesting. My friend took me to see it.

3. One of the chief things is to save money, manpower, and time. A

computer can do this thing.

4. Immigration is an issue. This issue raises strong emotions.

5. Paintmgs by Renoir realized record prices in the sale. The sale took
place at Sotheby's in London yesterday.

6. There is evidence that many men were in fact willing to accept the

Company's revised pay offer. These men went on strike.

7. The pools winner used a system. This system, he said, had won him
several small amounts over the years.

8. The gales caused widespread damage. They swept across southern

England last night.

9. British shipyards are now quoting prices. These prices compare

favourably with foreign competitors.

10. Is the оffеr still open? You made the offer last week.

11. Only by exporting enough can we pay for the goods. We buy these
goods from abroad.

12. Members of the local sub-aqua club came across a wreck. It had lain
on the sea-bed for over 200 years.

13. The problem today is to build houses at a price. Young couples can

afford to pay this price.

14. I know the very person. He will do the job quickly.

15. In some areas of Britain, unemployment is a fact of life. People have

grown accustomed to facing this fact.