Reduced relative clauses

Question 1

• You can reduce, or shorten, relative clauses with THAT IS, THAT ARE, WHO IS, WHO ARE, WHICH IS and WHICH ARE.
  Reduce them simply by OMITTING the RELATIVE PRONOUN + BE.
  Look at the example. Notice how the omission of the relative pronoun + be changes the sentence from two connected clauses into one single phrase.
• Be careful: ONLY relative clauses with THAT, WHO or WICH + BE can be reduced.

Clauses with these pronouns, BUT with a DIFFERENT verb, AND clauses with the relative pronouns WHOSE, WHEN or WHERE, CANNOT be.

Answer 1

…He’s part of a group of parents THAT IS encouraging schools to offer English as a second language.
x
He’s part of a group of parents encouraging schools to offer English as a second language.

…Charlotte, WHO WAS born in the northern part of Belgium, speaks Flemish as her native language.
x
Charlotte, born in the northern part of Belgium, speaks Flemish as her native language.

…They speak Caribbean English, WHICH IS a variety of English based on 17th-century English and African languages.
x
They speak Caribbean English, a variety of English based on 17th-century English and African languages.
___________________

… She’s the only one WHO speaks Urdu fluently.
…I went to a school THAT TAUGHT German as a second language .
…Matheus, WHOSE mother tongue is Portuguese, also speaks English and Spanish.

Question 2

• Relative pronouns in spoken English

→ In spoken English, we sometimes use relative pronouns like THAT and WHO a little differently. For example, we often use THAT instead of the other relative pronouns.

→ And remember, WHICH is often used to add a comment.

Answer 2

…He’s the guy THAT’S always patting people on the back.

…A. The culture is quite different where our new branch office is located.
B. WHICH is really important to understand, isn’t it?

Question 3

• Reducing relative clauses

→ In spoken English, we often change the relative clause into an ADJECTIVE PHRASE to make it SHORTER. A phrase like this HAS NO subject or verb. There are two ways you can do this.

+ First, IF the relative clause has the verb BE, both the relative pronoun and the verb can be removed.

+ Second, if the relative clause has a verb OTHER than be, you can often reduce it by DROPPING the relative pronoun and changing the verb to its -ING form.

Answer 3

…She’s the woman WHO IS in charge of marketing.
She’s the woman in charge of marketing.

…Anyone who is planning to attend the meeting should come prepared.
Anyone planning to attend the meeting should come prepared