Francesca Pellegrini Federica Giorgi

Giada GigantiJessica Bettarelli

FrancescaI'm 22, I live in Castelfidardo not far from Ancona. I love animals. My favourite one is the giraffe, but it's too big for my house, so I decided to buy a dog, called Zeus. I love watching tv series especially “How I met your mother” and I love reading book. My favorite one is “La solitudine dei numeri primi”. One day I would like to be a teacher. But if this won’t be possible I would be happy to be a lovely mother and wife, because family is all.

Federica

I’m Federica. I’m 21 and I live in Castelfidardo, a small village in the province of Ancona. I have to drive around 40 kilometers by car every morning because I’m attending the University in Macerata. Even so I'm happy because thanks to this, I can spend more time with my family and my little sister Valeria, who I love so much. In my life for seven years, above my family, there is another very important person: my boyfriend, Amedeo. I consider myself a cheerful person, but I’m also clumsy and especially chatty! I love going to the beach, especially during the summer and walking along the beach during sunset is the best way to spend my free time.

JessicaI’m 20, I live in Catelfidardo too. My life is very hectic and busy, I can’t stop. I like walking, especially near the sea and I love all kinds of sports, in particular dance. I have joined modern-jazz dance courses for nine years and I couldn’t leave out this passion. I’m a lively person but also meticulous, determined and touchy sometimes. I love children and I have done babysitting for many years. Now I work as baby-sitter twice a week and the baby who I take care of is called Alex, he is so pretty and clever! About my future I hope to became a great, lovely and respectable teacher. This is my biggest wish!

GiadaI'm 20, I live in Macerata with my parents, but during the summer holidays I move to my beach house in P. Recanati. I’ve a sister, Melissa. She’s older than me and she lives in P. Recanati. I'm shy and a generous girl. I'm really lazy, in fact I’d rather watch TV on the sofa than play sports. I like cooking, especially cakes and sweets, even if sometimes they aren’t so tasty. When I have some free time I love going to the cinema with my boyfriend or going shopping. I would love to be an excellent teacher one day, but I also hope to find a job first.

Lesson 9

RELATIVE CLAUSES

A definition:

We use relative clauses to give additionalinformation about person, thing, place,possession or time without starting anothersentence. By combining sentences with arelative clause, your text becomes more fluentand you can avoid repeating certain words.

Ex: I bought a new car. It is very fast. → I bought a new car that is very fast.

The relative clauses are divided in two different types:

1.Defining relative clauses

2.Non – defining relative clauses

The defining relative clauses add information which is essential to understand of the main clauses. They are used to determine or identify the noun.

Ex: “The boy who we met yesterday is very nice.”

The Non – defining relative clauses addinformation no essential to understand of the main clauses. They are always between commas.

Ex: “My friend Jim, who we met yesterday, is very nice.”

“The boy who we met yesterday is very nice.”

without defining relative clauses the main clauses is not clear infact the subject is general:

A boy (Who is the boy? We don’t know…)

while  

“My friend Jim, who we met yesterday, is very nice.”

in this sentence the subject is clear and we know who is: Jim, my friend. So the non –

defining relative clauses is not useful to understand the main clause.

The relative clauses can be introduced by the following pronouns or adverbs:

Relative pronoun

Gives information about

Example

who People I told you about the woman who lives next door.

which Animals and things Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?

whose Possession Do you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?

that People, animals and things

I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.

Relative Adverb Give information about

Example

When time the day when we met him

Where places the place where we met him

Why Refers to a reason the reason why we met him

Particular cases

We can use that for people or things instead of who or which. This is less formal.

Ex: “ I like the boy that works in the restaurant “

We always use who, which and that when it is the subject of the defining relative clause.

Ex: That’s the man who sold me the car That’s the man sold me the car so the relative pronoun (who, which, that) can’t be leave out.

….Another particular cases

  We can leave out who, which and that when they are the object of the relative clause.

Ex: I don’t like the dress Tina is wearing (without that)

or I don’t like the dress that Tina is wearing

We can’t leave out the five Ws in the non – defining relative clauses.

Exercise n° 1Choose the correct relative pronoun or relative adverb.

1. A castle is a place .......... a king or queen lives. 2. An actress is a woman ………. plays in films or

theatre plays. 3. This is the girl ……... mother is from Canada. 4. This is the time of the year …..…. many people

suffer from flu. 5. The flowers ……….... grow in the garden are

beautiful.

where

who/that

whose

when

which/that

Exercise n° 2Combine the sentences with relative clauses. (Decide whether to use commas or not.)

A monk is a man. The man has devoted his life to God.

___________________________________________________________________

I have one black cat. His name is Felix.

_____________________________________________________

A monkey is an animal. It climbs on tree.

_________________________________________________________________________

Carol plays the piano brilliantly. She is only 9 years old.

__________________________________________________________________________

My mother has a car. It is new and black.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

A monk is a man who/that has devoted his life to God.

I have one black cat, whose name is Felix.

A monkey is an animal which/that climbs on tree.

Carol , who/that is only 9 years old, plays the piano brilliantly.

My mother has a car which/that is new and black.

Thanks for your attentio

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