Lesson video

It's Mr. Brown here with your English lesson for today.

So let's get started.

So our learning objective today is to explore relative pronouns.

In this lesson, you will need an exercise book or a piece of paper, a pencil, pen, something to write with, and, most definitely, your brain.

Our agenda today is to start with complex sentences.

We're then going to be looking at relative clauses, and then finally moving onto relative pronouns.

But let's start with simple and complex sentences.

What's a complex sentence? A complex sentence is a main clause plus a subordinate clause.

That equals a complex sentence.

A clause, remember, must contain a verb.

Subordinate clauses start with subordinating conjunctions.

And there's the image that I always use to help you remember what's the main clause and what's a subordinate clause.

A main clause is a superhero that can work on his own.

He doesn't need another superhero working with him.

A subordinate clause is brilliant, but it needs a main clause.

It can't go out fighting crime all on its own.

It needs to be with the main clause.

Mr. Main, our superhero, that's our main clause, can work alone.

Ms. Subordinate cannot, needs to be with Mr. Main.

A main clause is the main part of the sentence and makes sense on its own.

"The boy walked into the scrapyard "so he could search through the objects." "The boy walked into the scrapyard," that is the main clause.

Let's look at another example.

"As a smoke from chimneys filled the air, "the young boy examined the piles of rubbish." So, "As smoke from chimneys filled the air," could that work on its own? Could that be our main clause? "As smoke from chimneys filled the air." That doesn't make sense on its own.

You're going to say to me, "Okay, yeah, what happened?" Let's try this one.

"The young boy examined the piles of rubbish." Yeah, makes sense on its own.

That's the main clause.

Now, a subordinate clause adds extra information to a sentence and does not make sense on its own.

"The boy walked into the scrapyard "so he could search for objects." "So he could search for objects" does not make sense on its own.

Same for "as smoke from chimneys filled the air." Your job, can you identify the main clause in this sentence here? "When the scrapyard was empty, "an inquisitive, young boy made his way inside." I'd like you to pause the lesson now, have a good look, and try and identify the main clause.

Why do you write out the main clause on its own? If it makes sense, then it probably is the main clause, and you've written a simple sentence.

Pause the lesson.

Off you go.

Okay, let's see how you got on.

"When the scrapyard was empty, "an inquisitive, young boy made his way inside." "When the scrapyard was empty, "an inquisitive, young boy made his way inside." "An inquisitive, young boy made his way inside" is the main clause.

"When the scrapyard was empty" is the subordinate clause.

How 'about this one? This time I'm going to flip it round.

Can you try and find the subordinate clause? The sentence is, "The boy didn't notice the sun beginning to set "because he was too busy scavenging." Scavenging means searching for something, looking through objects to find something.

Okay.

Pause the lesson.

And can you write out for me the subordinate clause? When you write it down, it won't make sense on its own because it's lacking that main clause, isn't it? Okay.

Over to you.

Let's pause the lesson now.

Right, let's see how you got on.

Welcome back.

So, "The boy didn't notice the sun beginning to set." Well, that makes sense on its own, doesn't it? That could be a main clause.

It's a simple sentence.

It gives you one piece of information.

"Because he was too busy scavenging." Could that be sentenced on its own? "Because he was too busy scavenging." No, it doesn't make sense.

You can't use "because" to start a main clause, can you? "Because he was too busy scavenging" doesn't make sense, so it's a subordinate clause.

It's brilliant in our sentence, "The boy didn't notice the sun beginning to set "because he was too busy scavenging." It adds extra information, extra detail.

It's great to write complex sentences.

But it needs a main clause with it.

Okay.

It's over to you now.

I'd like you to write two of your own complex sentences.

The first must have the subordinate clause at the start.

And the second must have the main clause at the start.

So you're going to flip it round.

First one, subordinate clause first, then main clause.

Second one, main clause, then subordinate clause.

Over to you.

Pause the lesson.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

I hope you did well with your activity.

If you found that tricky, don't worry.

We're going to be working on this lots.

Time to dive into relative clauses.

Relative clauses.

A relative clause is a special type of subordinate clause that modifies a noun or a clause.

And "modify" just means "changes slightly." A relative clause starts with a relative pronoun, for example, "who" or "which." A relative clause is always positioned in the middle or at the end of the sentence.

It will never start your sentence.

It will always be in the middle or at the end.

Here's an example.

"Chimneys coughed out thick, black smoke, "which took across the amber sky." "Chimneys coughed out thick, black smoke, "which took across the amber sky." And there's an image that I've used from "The Viewer," the book "The Viewer," to be able to generate this sentence.

Now, my relative clause is highlighted in purple.

It starts with "which," which is my relative pronoun.

And we'll be looking at that a bit more later.

"Chimneys coughed out thick, black smoke." That's a main clause.

It could work on its own, couldn't it? But I'm adding that extra bit of information.

I'm modifying my noun to say some more about it, using "which took across the amber sky." "Chimneys coughed out thick, black smoke." There it is.

Full stop at the end.

Definitely makes sense on its own.

It's a simple sentence, a main clause.

Now, let's use this image.

When we put some relative clause in the middle, it's separating our main clause.

Now, look at that hamburger.

When you get to hamburger bun, you get first of all the whole bun, and you cut it through the middle.

And that's where you put in your burger, your lettuce, your tomato, your cheese, et cetera.

Now, the main clause was a whole thing, wasn't it? It made sense on its own.

The hamburger did, the bun.

It made sense in its own.

It works on its own.

It's a real thing.

And that's the same with the main clause.

The main clause works on its own.

You can take the relative clause out, and it still is a fully formed thing.

Just like a hamburger bun would be.

You could take the burger out, put the bun together, and it's still a fully formed bun, isn't it? It's not a hamburger, 'cause you're missing the burger, aren't you? But it definitely is a fully formed bun.

Now, let me show you an example.

"A smashed car, which was covered in rust, "sat precariously on top of piles of broken machinery." "Precariously" means it's not very settled.

It could tip over.

It's a situation that could go either way.

It's not a sturdy, solid situation.

"A smashed car, which was covered in rust, "sat precariously on top of piles of broken machinery." "Which was covered in rust" is the relative clause.

It can be taken out, and that sentence still makes sense on its own.

"A smashed car sat precariously "on top of piles of broken machinery." That's the main clause on its own.

It makes sense.

We took out the relative clause, and the main clause was perfectly fine on its own.

There is a punctuation rule to spot over here.

Can you see it? There's a punctuation rule to remember here.

I wonder if you can spot it.

When you're adding a relative clause, what's the punctuation rule? You can see it, can't you? It's the commas.

We have to have commas there to show where your main clause has been cut to add the relative clause in, and that's what commas do.

Can you identify the relative clause in this sentence? You can pause the lesson, have a good look.

Can you identify the relative clause? Okay, welcome back.

Do you think you've got it? I hope you've got it written down in front of you or you've said it out loud.

Let's see if you were right.

"The boy, who had dust and dirt all over his hands, "searched through the random objects." The relative clause is "who had dust and dirt all over his hands." There's "who." We see one of our relative pronouns.

We know that this adds extra information.

If I took it out entirely, "The boy searched through the random objects," that makes sense, that's our main clause.

Good job.

Okay, let's have a look at relative pronouns.

Relative pronouns.

The two relative pronouns we are going to focus on, and there are lots more.

But I think whenever you're learning something, it's best to start with just using one or two, and then build that knowledge up as we go.

We're going to start with "who," and we're going to start with "which." When do we use "who" though? And when do we use "which"? How do you decide which one are you going to use? Here's an example of each.

But can you work out what is the rule for using "who" and "which"? "Mr. Brown, who is a teacher, "loves to go to the theatre." "London, which is the capital city of England, "is home to many different theatres." Can you work it out? What's the rule for "who"? And what's the rule for "which"? Look at the difference.

Mr. Brown has a "who," and London has a "which." So the rule for using "who" and "which" as relative pronouns is you use "who" when you are adding extra information about a person, and "which" when you are adding extra information about an object or a place like London, something that isn't a person, basically.

Okay, it's over to you now.

I want you to add relative clauses, starting with correct relative pronouns, to these simple sentences.

And don't forget your commas.

So the first simple sentence is, "The Head teacher was late for a meeting." And the next simple sentence is, "The tree had now grown taller than the school." Your job is to add those relative clauses and choose the correct relative pronoun.

Off you go.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's see the correct answers.

Or let's see my correct answers.

You might have gone in a completely different direction, but it may still actually be correct.

So, "The Head teacher, who was very stressed, "was late for a meeting." I'm adding some extra information.

We know the Head teacher was late for a meeting, that's our main clause.

But it's much better if I tell you the Head teacher was stressed too, because that relative clause completely changes your perception of the sentence.

'Cause it could be, "The Head teacher, "who was very relaxed, was late for a meeting." And it's like, well, this doesn't matter that he's late for a meeting or she's late for a meeting.

Okay, next one.

"The tree, which was outside the office, "had now grown taller than the school." I'm telling you where the tree is located.

And I've chosen "which" for the tree, because it's not a person, and "who" the Head teacher, because they are a person.

Okay.

Your task today is to add relative clauses to these simple sentences.

"The boy stared at the different objects around him." That's your first one.

And number two, "The sun began to set." I want you to write at least two full sentences yourself using a relative clause to add extra information.

If you want to go above and beyond, you could add even more sentences that you could think of yourself, and then add relative clauses to them as well.

So we've looked at complex sentences.

We've revised our knowledge on that.

We've looked at relative clauses and relative pronouns.

Congratulations.

You've completed your lesson.

Well done, everyone.

I will see you next time.

Take care.