Participle Clauses
Reduced relative clauses
• In reduced relative clauses we omit the relative pronoun
(who, which or that) and the verb form of be. Therefore
a reduced relative clause begins with a present or past
participle (see participle clauses below).
The man (who is) talking to your brother at the moment is
my biology teacher.
The cottage (which was) situated at the top of the hill used
to belong to my great grandparents.
• Non-defining relative clauses provide additional
information (not essential to the meaning of the
sentence). They are put between commas. The relative
pronouns cannot be omitted; neither can we use that
in their place.
Dr Miller, who is the Head of the Department, will
attend the reception.
• Prepositions usually appear at the end of defining
relative clauses. When this happens, the relative
pronoun (who, which, that) can be omitted.
The man (who/that) I was talking to five minutes ago
is my uncle.
• In non-defining clauses and sometimes in defining
clauses, prepositions appear at the beginning of the
relative clause. In this case, only whom or which can
be used after the preposition.
That tall man, to whom I was talking five minutes
ago, is my uncle.
• Which may also refer to a whole sentence and
cannot be omitted.
He offered to give me a lift, which was very kind of
him.
• What means the thing that.
I don’t believe a word of what she told me.
NOTE
• When participle clauses precede the main clause,
they are always separated by comma. To form
the negative of participles, we add not before the
participles.
Not wanting to miss the bus, they ran to the bus
stop.
Not having seen the sign, I entered the garden.
• The perfect participles (having + past participle,
having + been + past participle) are used to
emphasise that one action happened before
another one.
• If a participle is at the beginning of a sentence, its
subject is the same as that of the main verb.
Crossing the road, I was nearly knocked down by a car.
But: Pushing the button, the lift moved up to the
third floor. (This would mean that the lift pushed the
button.)
• If the subject of the participle is different from the
subject of the verb, it goes at the beginning of the
sentence.
Weather permitting, we may drive to the beach.
Reduced relative clauses
• In reduced relative clauses we omit the relative pronoun
(who, which or that) and the verb form of be. Therefore
a reduced relative clause begins with a present or past
participle (see participle clauses below).
The man (who is) talking to your brother at the moment is
my biology teacher.
The cottage (which was) situated at the top of the hill used
to belong to my great grandparents.
• Non-defining relative clauses provide additional
information (not essential to the meaning of the
sentence). They are put between commas. The relative
pronouns cannot be omitted; neither can we use that
in their place.
Dr Miller, who is the Head of the Department, will
attend the reception.
• Prepositions usually appear at the end of defining
relative clauses. When this happens, the relative
pronoun (who, which, that) can be omitted.
The man (who/that) I was talking to five minutes ago
is my uncle.
• In non-defining clauses and sometimes in defining
clauses, prepositions appear at the beginning of the
relative clause. In this case, only whom or which can
be used after the preposition.
That tall man, to whom I was talking five minutes
ago, is my uncle.
• Which may also refer to a whole sentence and
cannot be omitted.
He offered to give me a lift, which was very kind of
him.
• What means the thing that.
I don’t believe a word of what she told me.
NOTE
• When participle clauses precede the main clause,
they are always separated by comma. To form
the negative of participles, we add not before the
participles.
Not wanting to miss the bus, they ran to the bus
stop.
Not having seen the sign, I entered the garden.
• The perfect participles (having + past participle,
having + been + past participle) are used to
emphasise that one action happened before
another one.
• If a participle is at the beginning of a sentence, its
subject is the same as that of the main verb.
Crossing the road, I was nearly knocked down by a car.
But: Pushing the button, the lift moved up to the
third floor. (This would mean that the lift pushed the
button.)
• If the subject of the participle is different from the
subject of the verb, it goes at the beginning of the
sentence.
Weather permitting, we may drive to the beach.
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