Autor prof. Bogdan Georgiana
Sursă imagine: https://mytutorsource.com/blog/how-to-learn-english-grammar/
Relative clauses are usually introduced by relative pronouns such as that, who or which and are used to provide information about someone or something just mentioned. We can use relative clauses to identify people (I’ ve just seen the woman who lives upstairs), describe things ( She’s climbing up a ladder that wobbles with every gust of wind) and add comments ( I think she’s going to clean her windows, which seems rather dangerous in the circumstances). We can sometimes use a relative clause with no relative pronoun ( With every step_she takes, water splashes out of the bucket_she’s carrying).
A relative clause formed with a participle and no relative pronoun is called a reduced relative clause. We use present participles (1) and past participles (2).
- There are two students who are waiting outside. => There are two students waiting outside.
- The strawberries which had been dipped in chocolate were really delicious! => The strawberries dipped in chocolate were really delicious!
We use a present participle in place of an active verb (3) and a past participle in place of a passive verb (4).
3. There were teachers who were shouting and children who were running out of the building. => There were teachers shouting and children running out of the building.
4. Debbie only drinks juice that is made from fresh fruit that is grown organically. => Debbie only drinks juice made from fresh fruit grown organically.
We can use participles instead of verbs referring to the past, present or future.
5. The winner is the person who scored/scores/will score the most points in the game.=> The winner is the person scoring the most points in the game.
6. First prize is for the most points which were scored/ are scored/will be scored in the game. > First prize is for the most points scored in the game.
We can use a participle from a simple passive to describe a general situation (7), a continuous passive to emphasize that a situation is continuing (8) or a perfect passive to emphasize that a situation has continued from an earlier time (9).
7. We are concerned about people held in prison without a trial ( = who are held)
8. We are concerned about people being held in prison without a trial. (= who are being held)
9. We are concerned about people having been held in prison for years. (= who have been held)
Participles can also be used in non-defining relative clauses, usually in written descriptions and narratives.
10. The old car, trailing black smoke, drove off towards town. ( = which was trailing smoke)
Robert Ball, nicknamed ‘ Big Bob’, was my favourite teacher. ( = who was nicknamed)
We put not before the participle in negative reduced relative clauses.
11. My parents, not having much money, never went on holiday. (=who didn’t have). I’d prefer shirts not made with polyester if you have any. ( which aren’t made)
We can use some adjectives and adjective phrases after nouns in a way that is similar to reduced relative clauses.
12. There was one seat available on the flight (= one seat which was vailable).
Mercury is a metal, silver in colour, often found in liquid form. (= which is silver in colour)
Others include: necessary, possible, present, ready, responsible, suitable.
We do not use a participle instead of a verb that describes a single or sudden action (13) or a verb with a subject that is different from the relative pronoun (14).
13. There was a sudden bang that woke me up ( NOT There was a sudden bang waking me up.)
14. There are several things that we need from the shop. ( NOT There are several things needing…)
This isn’t the information that I was given before. ( NOT This isn’t the information given before.)
We usually use an infinitive, not a participle, after a noun preceded by the adjectieves first, second, etc.
15. Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon (= who walked on the moon) ( NOT Neil Armstrong was the first person walking on the moon.)
All things considered, the main purpose of using reduced relative clauses is to make sentences shorter, more concise and more natural in both speaking and writing. They remove unnecessary words without changing the core meaning ( like relative pronouns and ‘be’ verbs). Reduced relative clauses refer to the shortening of a relative clause which modifies the subject of a sentence. Reduces relative clauses modify the subject and not the object of a sentence. They make text sound more elegant, stylish and professional. They pack more content words into noun groups which is especially common in academic and formal writing.
