Chapter 8: Definition Paragraphs

Practice 1: Topic Sentences for Definition Paragraphs

1. A dictator is a ruler who has all the power in a country.

2. An optimist is a person who always possible about the future.
3. A good friend is a friend who give you advices, stand with you, show support,
and hide your secrets as you wish.
4. An ideal spouse is a spouse who you prefer and he/she has the things that you
love.
5. Chess is a cream that you can put at the top of sandwiches or pizzas.

Try it out: Choose four words to write topic sentences:

1. Bchum Ben is a Cambodia festival that last for 15 days.

2. Jabey is a Cambodian traditional instrument which is now less popular among
Cambodian youths.
3. Oum Tuk is a boat racing festival which is celebrated every year at Jatukmun (a
point where three river meet each other) near the Royal Palace.
4. A good child is a child who listens to parents’ advices and work hard to achieve
the dream and back up the family.

Practice: Adjective Clauses

1. (EI) Some of the customs of Easter, which is a Christian holiday, have pagan
origins.
2. (NI) Before Christianity existed, people in the northern and central Europe
worshipped a goddess whom they called Eostre.
3. (EI) Eostre, which means east, was the goddess of spring.
4. (NI) Every spring, people who worshipped her held a festival to give thanks for
the return of the sun’s warmth.
5. (NI) They offered the goddess cakes that they baked for the festival.
 6. (EI) These cakes were very similar to hot cross buns which bakeries sell at
Easter.
7. (EI) Also, the custom of coloring eggs, which families do at Easter, came from
ancient cultures.
8. (EI) Even the popular Easter bunny, who brings chocolate eggs and other candy
to children on Easter Sunday, has pagan roots.

Complex sentences with Adjective Clause

Easter is named for a pagan goddess. + Easter is a Christian holiday.

 Easter, which is a Christian holiday, is named for a pagan goddess.

The clause which is a Christian holiday is an adjective clause that modifies the noun
Easter. The modified noun is called the antecedent.
Here are some important points about adjective clauses.
1. Place an adjective clause after its antecedent and as close to it as possible to avoid
confusion.
- Confusion: He left the car on the street that he had just bought. (Did he buy a
car or a street?)
- Clear: He left the car that he just bought on the street.
2. When a relative pronoun is the subject of the adjective clause, make the verb in
the clause agree with its antecedent.
- A teacher who teaches young children needs a lot of patience.
- Teachers who teach young children need a lot of patience.
3. Don’t use double pronouns.
- Last night we watched reruns of Friends, which (not use it here) it is my
favorite TV show.
4. When you make an adjective clause, choose an appropriate relative pronoun.
- Subject Pronouns: who, which, and that
When a relative pronoun is the subject of an adjective clause, choose a subject
pronoun: who, which, or that.
Extra Information: (people) who (things) which
Necessary Information: (People) who, that (informal) (things) which, that
Who is used for people.
Which is used for things.
That is used for people and things. Using that for people is informal.
Use that in necessary clause only.
Extra Information

The Nobel Prizes are named for Alfred Nobel. + He was a citizen of Sweden.

The Noble Prizes are named for Alfred Nobel, who was a citizen of Sweden.

April Fool’s Day is a day for playing tricks on your friends. + It is on April 1.

April Fool’s Day, which is on April 1, is a day for playing tricks on your friends.

Necessary Information

The student is from Thailand. + She got the best score on the last test.

The student who got the best score on the last test is from Thailand.

The student that got the best score on the last test is from Thailand.

Leap Day is a special day. + It happens only every four years.

Leap Day is a special day which happens only every four years.

Leap Day is a special day that happens only every four years.

Practice 4: Adjective Clauses with subject pronouns

A. Make an adjective clause from the sentence in parentheses.

1. Many religions have rules about food that were developed for health reasons.
2. Judaism, which is the oldest major religion in the world, has very strict rules about
food.
3. Christians who practice fasting do not eat certain foods during the six weeks
before Easter.
4. People who practice the Hindu religion cannot eat beef.
5. Muslims and Jews cannot eat pork, which is considered unclean.
6. Muslims cannot eat or drink at all in the daytime during Ramadan, which is a holy
month of fasting.

B. Combine the sentences in each of the following pairs by making one of them an
adjective clause.
1. Three of the world’s major religions were started by men. The men were teachers.
Three of the world’s major religions were started by men who were teachers.
2. Gautama Siddhartha was born about 500 years before Jesus. Gautama Siddhartha
started Buddhism.
Gautama Siddhartha, who was born about 500 years before Jesus, started
Buddhism.
 3. Christianity was started by Jesus. Jesus was born about 500 years before
Mohammed.
Christianity was started by Jesus, who born about 500 years before Mohammed.
4. Mohammed founded Islam, which is the second largest religion in the world.
5. A religion which has one God is monotheistic.
6. The Hindu and Shinto which have many gods are polytheistic.

Object Pronouns: Whom, which, that and (no pronoun)

When the relative pronoun is an object in an adjective clause, choose the object
pronoun whom, which, or, that, or use no pronoun.

Extra Information People: whom Things: which

Necessary Information People: whom, that (informal), no pronoun Things: which,

that no pronoun.

Note:

 Whom is used for people. Informally, who is used instead of whom.

 Which is used for things.
 That is used for people and things. Using that for people is informal.
 Use that in necessary clauses only.
 You may omit an object relative pronoun in necessary clause only.
 Notice that an object pronoun if placed at the beginning of the adjective clause, before
the subject.
Extra Information
Professor Lee is my chemistry teacher. We saw him at the supermarket.
Professor Lee, whom we saw at the supermarket, is my chemistry teacher.
Boxing Day is unknown in the United States. People in Canada, Great Britain, and
many other English-speaking countries celebrate Boxing Day.
Boxing day, which people in Canada, Great Britain, and many other English-speaking
countries celebrate, is unknown in the United States.
Necessary Information
The person is my teacher. We saw her at the supermarket.
The person whom we saw at the supermarket is my teacher.
Or The person that we saw at the supermarket is my teacher.
Or The person we saw at the supermarket is my teacher.
The film was long. We saw it last week.
 The film which we saw last week was long.
The film that we saw last week was long.
The film we saw last week was long.

Practice 5: Adjective Clauses with Object Pronouns.

A.
1. People in Thailand have festival which they call the festival Loy Krathong, “Festival
of the Floating Leaf Cups.”
2. The Thais float little boats, which they made out of banana leaves, lotus, or paper,
down a river in the evening.
3. The boats, which they have decorated with lighted candles, incense, coins, and
flowers, float down the river in the moonlight.

Pongal is a three-day festival that celebrates the rice harvest in southern India.

1. On the first day of Pongal, families gather in the kitchen and boil a pot of new
rice which they cook in milk.
2. Then they offer some of the sweet rice to the sun god, whom they thank for
ripening the rice crop.
3. The second day of Pongal is for the rain which they thank for helping the rice
to grow.
4. A traditional Pongal gift is a clay horse that they paint in bright colors.
5. On the third day of Pongal, the farmers honor their cattle which they decorate
with flowers and coins.

Clauses with when

You can begin a clause with when to give more information about time.

Extra Information Time when

Necessary Information Time when

When replaces a prepositional phrase or the word then.

When can begin both extra and necessary-information clauses.

Extra Information

A popular day with children is Halloween. They dress up in costumes and get
candy from neighbors on Halloween.
 A popular day with children is Halloween, when they dress up in costumes and
get candy from neighbors.

Necessary Information

Ramadan is a time. + Muslims fast then.

Ramadan is a time when Muslims fast.

Practice 6: Clauses with When

1. Were you alive on July 20, 1969 when the first human walked on the moon?
2. Every mother remembers the wonderful day when her first child was born.
3. Tet is a special time when Vietnamese people celebrate the lunar new year.

The student who gave the best speech won a prize.

Kim Leong, who gave the best speech, won a prize.

She loaned her car to someone whom she did not know.

She loaned her car to Tom, whom she has known for a long time.

She teaches biology, which is my favorite subject.

Her husband teaches algebra, which I enjoy the least.

The class that meets in the next room is very noisy.

The subject that I enjoy the least is algebra.

The subject I enjoy the least is algebra.

The salesman that sold me my car was fired. (informal)

I work full time on days when I do not have classes.

I did not work at all last week, when I had my final exams.

Practice 7: Adjective Clauses

A. Write sentences
1. Fortune teller (a person) A fortune teller is a person who can see into the future.
2. Coach (a person) A coach is a person who teaches something to someone.
3. Travel agents (people) Travel agents are the people who engaged in selling and
arranging transportation, accommodations, tours, or trips for travelers.
4. MP3 players (devices) MP3 players are the devices which are used for playing
MP3s or other digital audio files.
 5. Fork (a utensil) Fork is a utensil that is used for lifting food to the mouth or
holding it when cutting.
6. Chopsticks (utensils) Chopsticks are the utensils which are used as eating utensils
especially by the Chinese and Japanese.
7. (day/time) Bchum Ben is a special day which is celebrated for 15 days long in the
rainy reason.
B. Form the following list English slang words and phrases, choose five and write
definition for them.
1. Blog is a regularly updated website or web page, which is typically run by an
individual or small group, that is written in an informal or conversation styles.
2. Airhead is a stupid person who does simple tasks incorrectly, forgetful, oblivious
to every day procedures.
3. Couch Potato is a person who spends a lot of time watching television with little
or no physical activity.
4. No-brainer is something that requires no thought before deciding.
5. Nutcase is a person who is mad or foolish person.
6. Potluck dinner is the regular meal available to a guest for whom no special
preparations have been made.
7. Sitting duck is a person or thing with no protection against an attack or other
source of danger.
8. Geek is a performer at a carnival or circus whose show consists of bizarre or
grotesque acts.
9. Slam dunk is the act of jumping and forcing the basketball through the rim with
emphasis.
10. Dot com is a company that conducts its business on the internet.
11. Tightwad is a person who is a mean or miserly person.
12. Emoticon is a representation of a facial expression such as a smile or frown,
formed by various combinations of keyboard characters and used to convey the
writer's feelings or intended tone.

Try it Out: The First Thanksgiving

1. An important holiday in the United States is Thanksgiving, which celebrates the

successful harvest of some of the first European settles in North America.
2. A modern Thanksgiving is similar in many ways to the first Thanksgiving, which took
place almost four hundred years ago in the English colony of Massachusetts.
3. In 1620, the Pilgrims who were a religious group from England arrived in Plymouth,
Massachusetts.
 4. The Pilgrims came to the New World because their religion was different from the
main religion in England.
5. The Pilgrims’ first winter was very hard which almost half the group died.
6. They died of hunger, cold, and disease.
7. Next year, The Wampanoag who were a tribe of Native Americans in Massachusetts
helped them.
8. The next winter came, and the Pilgrims had enough food.
9. They were grateful, and they had a feast to give thanks.
10. They shared food and friendship with the Wampanoag whom they invited to the feast.
11. A modern Thanksgiving is similar in spirit to the first Thanksgiving, but the food is
probably different.
12. The Pilgrims and Wampanoag probably ate deer, but today American eat turkey.

Exercise 1: Scrambled Definition Paragraph

A. On a separate piece of paper, write the following sentences

Walter Gropius
1. (6) Walter Gropius was a German-born architect who designed simple “glass box”
building and changed the look of cities worldwide.
2. (7) At the Bauhaus, Gropius was a leader of the International Style of the 1920s, a
style that greatly changed building design.
3. (3) Gropius was also known for his belief in the value of teamwork, and he worked
together with other architects on many projects.
4. (4) He was influential mainly when he was the director of Germany’s Bauhaus
school of design.
5. (1) Another major contribution to the building industry was his promotion of
designs that could be mass-produced.
6. (2) In contrast to the ornately decorated stone structure of an earlier era,
Gropius’s steel and glass buildings had straight lines and no ornamentation.
7. (5) In sum, Gropius and his followers transformed cities from Toronto to Tokyo.

Exercise 2: Cross out

Writing Assignment: JABEY, A Cambodian Traditional Instrument

Step 1: prewriting
Instrument, so sweet voices, the singer and instrument are the same person,
less popular, Khmer traditional instrument, Foreigner is loving it, the singer
must be cleaver and flexible, and he/she must have a lot of knowledge, Only
 one person is to perform, Jabey is the instrument that we use to produce to
music and the singer start sing, after sing then he make a noise and sing again
and again, there is no limitation to the time to end the song, all word are coming
up from Jabey singer automatically.
Step 2: Organize the idea and by making an outline
1. Khmer instrument and so sweet voice and it has a long years ago.
2. Singer and Player of the songs are the same person.
3. The singer must learn to sing from the older Jabey singer.
4. The singer must be clever and smart and so responsive and flexable.
5. Sometimes, we have two Jabey singers to perform the show by singing and asking
questions to each other back and forth.
6. The time of song is unlimited depend on the program and singer to end.
7. It now less popular among Cambodian youths. There is rarely to show the JABEY
show now, there is only in the big national event or in the theatre for foreigner to
listen and learn.

Step 3: Write a rough draft.

JABEY is a Cambodian traditional music form which is now less popular

among Cambodian youths. JABEY is one of the most popular Cambodian
traditional music style, which was invented about 300 years ago in Cambodian’s
culture. JABEY is a kind of music which is strange to other types of music. JABEY
singer and singer are the same person, whereas other types of music forms,
which have more than one person to perform. Especially, the performance of
JABEY is far different from other types of music styles. First, the JABEY singer
starts playing the JABEY, but when he starts singing, he/she stops playing JABEY
and sing smoothly without any scripts like other type of music forms, and when
he stops sing then he starts playing JABEY again. This process starts over again
and again until the performance end. Furthermore, the scripts that JABEY
singers sing come up immediately from JABEY singer’s mouth automatically
 base on one main idea or topic, which the singers want to show to the
audiences. The scripts are based on the knowledge of the JABEY singer. Every
JABEY singers must have a talent, and they have to train with the older JABEY
singer to get advices and techniques on how to play the JABEY and how to sing
it properly. Additionally, in some cases, there might have two or more JABEY to
perform together in one show. They sing and ask questions back and forth on
one main idea or story. In the past, JABEY is one of the most popular music,
which has a lot of audiences and supporters, who listen and support it in every
events that have the JABEY show. However, JABEY music form now is not
popular among Cambodian people anymore. There are only a few people that
support and come to the shows, and also the JABEY singer has only a few in
Cambodia. Some JABEY lovers and singers earned just a little bit of money
which cannot even afford their living, and some of them have to earn money
from different jobs in order to support their families. Therefore, no one wants
to be a JABEY singer anymore, for it does not earn much money, and lack of
supporter in the country. To sum up, JABEY music form will probably disappear
from Cambodian culture really soon, if Cambodian people do not take care and
support it carefully.