Section 4 / Lesson 2 - Adding Information
In this class, we will look at how to add more detail to our sentences using relative clauses. When you are given a process to describe, it usually requires you to give a lot of detail in relatively few words. This is a great technique for keeping your writing concise, which improves your coherence, while still describing all relevant details to get a strong task achievement score.
The structure
If we look at this same process question. In our first sentence, we might want to give two pieces of information.
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A tadpole is born from one of the eggs. (main sentence)
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The tadpole has gills. (extra information)
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Firstly, we need to locate the noun which is shared in both sentences, in this case 'tadpole'. We then choose a relative pronouns that matches that noun.
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The noun is an object or animal - which or that
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The noun is a person - who
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These two relative pronouns are followed by a verb.​
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The noun is a possession - whose
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The noun is a place - where
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These two relative pronouns are followed by a noun.
'Which' and 'where' are the two most common relative pronouns that you will need to describe a process. Let's first look at 'which'. ​
Which
1. Start with the main sentence:
A tadpole is born from one of the eggs.
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2. Replace the noun in the 'extra information' sentence with the relevant relative pronoun.
which has gills
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3. Put commas on each side of this phrase.
, which has gills,
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4. Place it directly after the noun in the main sentence.
A tadpole, which has gills, is born from one of the eggs.
The location of the noun is not important, but the relative pronoun must directly follow the noun which it is replacing.
Main sentence:
The tadpole grows two legs.
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Extra information:
The two legs are just in front of its tail.
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Together:
The tadpole grows two legs, which are just in front of its tail.
A common mistake here is thinking that the extra information in this sentence is about a place, so we need to use 'where'. This is not true as the noun we have replaced (the two legs) is not place.
Where
As we said before, 'which' needs to be followed by a noun. The extra information sentence describes the thing that happens in the place you have mentioned.
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Main sentence:
The froglet climbs onto a leaf.
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Extra information:
On the leaf, it can develop into an adult frog.
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Together:
The froglet climbs onto a leaf, where it can develop into an adult frog.
In this sentence, the frog develops into an adult out of the water on the leaves.