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Reduced relative clauses are participle clauses which follow a noun. They are like relative clauses, but with the
relative pronoun and auxiliary verb (if there is one) left out.
Because they modify nouns, (reduced) relative clauses are occasionally referred to as adjective clauses.
Reduced relative clauses are used most often instead of defining relative clauses, which are what we'll be mainly
looking at.
This post is an expanded version of part of a longer post on participles and participle clauses.
3. All the workers made redundant last month have now been found new jobs.
Preliminary exercise Now make full relative clauses using who or which and the verb be
2. All the workers made redundant last month have now been found new jobs.
2. Active tenses are replaced with a present participle (-ing form). Note that the present
participle can replace various active tenses, not only present continuous
Anyone wanting a ticket for the Final see me.
(who wants - present simple)
The train now arriving at Platform 3 is the 4.20 to Paddington
(which is now arriving - present continuous)
Teams completing the first round go into the quarter-finals.
(which have completed - present perfect)
People arriving late were not allowed in until the interval.
(who arrived - past simple)
3. Passive tenses are replaced by the past participle (-ed forms) and being + past participle.
When I say -ed forms, I'm including irregular form such as seen, broken etc.
The past participle replaces passive simple forms while the being form replaces passive continuous forms
The student chosen as winner will get a prize.
(that is chosen - present simple)
The progress made yesterday will give us a head start.
(which was made - past simple)
None of the models inspected so far have passed the test.
(that have been inspected) - present perfect
The saplings being planted today will one day grow into huge trees.
(which are being planted - present continuous)
Practice 1
Note - changing 'a, an' to 'the'
In these two exercises all the reduced relative clauses are defining ones, so any indefinite articles (a, an) inside the
relative clause would usually change to definite ones (the). But this doesn't affect indefinite articles outside the relative
clause. For example:
A car was being driven by a young man - the car crashed into a tree.
The car which was being driven by the young man crashed into a tree.
The car being driven by the young man crashed into a tree.
There is one question in each of Ex 1a and Ex 1b where, for the sake of the exercise, you should change 'a' to 'the',
although technically 'a' might also be possible.
Exercise 1a - match the sentence halves and complete the sentences below using a present
(-ing) participle. Don't add any punctuation.
3. Some doctors attended a conference on malaria c They will be provided with taxis
5. Several roads lead to the city centre e They were all closed for the parade
1. Employees .
2. The doctor .
3. Doctors .
5. All roads .
6. The woman .
Exercise 1b - match the sentence halves and complete the sentences below using a
present (-ing) or past (-ed etc) participle. Don't add any punctuation.
1. A driver has been stopped by the police a He is going out with my sister
3. A young man is playing the guitar c He was three times over the legal limit
6. An elderly man was crossing the street f It is the odds-on favourite to win
1. The driver .
2. The dog .
4. A lorry .
5. The horse .
6. An elderly man .
The boy who was knocked off his bicycle broke his leg.
The boy knocked off his bicycle broke his leg.
It was the way in which he was sacked that particularly shocked me.
NOT the way in which he sacked ...
b. when there is a modal other than will in the defining relative clause
The students who will be selected tomorrow will be offered a scholarship
The students selected tomorrow will be ...
The students who should be selected are those that have worked the hardest.
NOT The students selected tomorrow are those ...
Practice 2
Exercise 2 - Complete the sentences with a verb from the first box in participle form
together with an expression from the second.
find chat stand pile out wag be involved play be most interested
in the robbery with the yoyo on the phone of the cinema on the street
its tail at the bus stop in buying
Note - we also seem to be able to reduce relative clauses which include adjectives formed from past participles,
like involved and interested when they follow the verb to be.
2. Remember that when the relative pronoun is the object of a defining relative clause, we
can omit (leave out) who, which or that.
The children (who) I taught all became geniuses. - direct object
This is the hotel (which) I was telling you about. - object of the preposition about
They're going to have to sell the house (that) they bought only a year ago. - direct object
A bit of grammar jargon - These structures are sometimes known as having a zero relative pronoun, and the
resulting clause is occasionally called a contact clause
Although these are certainly relative clauses which have been reduced (shorthened), they are not what we normally
refer to in EFL as reduced relative clauses, which involve one very basic principle:
As well as the relative pronoun being left out, the verb of the relative clause, including any auxiliary, is
replaced by an -ing or -ed (etc) participle.
Practice 3
Exercise 3 - Rewrite the sentences, where possible replacing the underlined relative
clauses with their shortest possible forms. Enter them into the boxes, as in the example.
Use a reduced relative clause where possible
If you can omit the participle altogether, do so. (1 question)
If you can't use a reduced relative clause but can omit the relative pronoun, do so.
If you can do none of these, enter the original clause (1 question).
0. The people who are crossing the street are trying to get a better view.
The people crossing the street are trying to get a better view.
3. All those who do not need to buy tickets please go straight in.
5. Wikipedia, which was launched in 2001, is one of the great internet successes.
7. All the candidates who were selected were given a second interview.
8. All those who passed the test were given a second interview.
9. LOL, which stands for Laughing Out Loud, is now in the OED.
10. The bouquet was made from flowers which were grown locally.
11. This the man who I was talking to you about.
12. The man who won yesterday's lottery lives next door.
Reduced relative clauses refers to the shortening of a relative clause which modifies the
subject of a sentence. Reduced relative clauses can modify the subject NOT the object of a
sentence. Let's quickly review relative clauses to learn more. Once you understand the
rules, take the reduced relative clauses quiz to test your understanding. Teachers can use
the printable version of this quiz in class.
Relative clauses, also known as adjective clauses, modify nouns much like adjectives.
The man who works at Costco lives in Seattle.
I gave a book which was written by Hemingway to Mary last week.
In the examples above, who works at Costco modifies (provides information about) the
subject of the sentence 'The man'. In the second sentence, which was written by
Hemingway modifies the object 'book'. Using a reduced relative clause we can reduce the
first sentence to:
The second example sentence can not be reduced because the relative clause which was
written by Hemingway modifies an object of the verb 'give'.
Relative clauses can also be reduced to shorter forms if the relative clause modifies the
subject of a sentence. Relative clause reduction refers to removing a relative pronounto
reduce:
An adjective phrase/man who was responsible for -> man responsible for
A prepositional phrase/boxes that are under the counter -> boxes under the counter
A past participle/student that was elected president -> student elected president
A present participle/people who are working on the report -> people working on the
report
Here are detailed descriptions and instructions on how to reduce each type of relative
clause:
Reduce to an Adjective
2. Remove the verb (usually 'be', but also 'seem', 'appear', etc.)
3. Place the adjective used in the relative clause before the modified noun
Examples:
The children who were happy played until nine in the evening. -> Reduced: The happy
children played until nine in the evening.
The house which was beautiful was sold for $300,000. -> Reduced: The beautiful house
was sold for $300,000.
Examples:
The product, which seemed perfect in many ways, failed to succeed in the market.
-> Reduced: The product, perfect in many ways, failed to succeed in the market.
The boy who was pleased by his grades went out with his friends to celebrate.
-> Reduced: The boy pleased by his grades went out with his friends to celebrate.
Examples:
The box which was on the table was made in Italy. -> Reduced: The box on the table was
made in Italy.
The woman who was at the meeting spoke about business in Europe. -> Reduced: The
woman at the meeting spoke about business in Europe./i>
Examples:
The desk which was stained was antique. -> Reduced: The stained desk was antique.
The man who was elected was very popular. -> Reduced: The elected man was very
popular.
Examples:
The car which was purchased in Seattle was a vintage Mustang.-> Reduced: The car
purchased in Seattle was a vintage Mustang.
The elephant which was born in captivity was set free. -> Reduced: The elephant born
in captivity was set free.
Examples:
The professor who is teaching mathematics will leave the university. -> Reduced: The
professor teaching mathematics will leave the university.
The dog that is lying on the floor won't get up. -> Reduced: The dog lying on the floor
won't get up.
Some action verbs reduce to the present participle (ing form) especially when the present
tense is used.
Examples:
The man who lives near my home walks to work every day. -> Reduced: The man living
near my home walks to work every day.
The girl who attends my school lives at the end of the street. -> Reduced: The girl
attending my school lives at the end of the street.