BBC Learning English Quiznet Non-defining relative clauses

1. The IT department, __________ the management keeps changing, is generally considered to be a good one. a) that b) who c) where d) which 2. a) b) c) d) 3. a) b) c) d) The company, __________, must be held responsible for the health of its staff. which a family-run organisation who is a family-run organisation that is a family-run organisation a family-run organisation The results of the experiment, __________, will be published in the Medical Journal. the university funded of which the university funded which the university funded the university of which funded

4. The results of the experiment will be published in the Medical Journal, __________ tend to be doctors. a) of which the readers b) the readers of which c) who the readers d) the readers 5. a) b) c) d) 6. a) b) c) d) Criticisms have been made of the actions of the fire fighters, __________. some members of the public are losing patience with who some members of the public are losing patience with with whom some members of the public are losing patience with with who some members of the public are losing patience Children were employed in factories, __________ were in basements without natural light. which many which many of them many of them many of which

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ANSWERS:

1. The IT department, __________ the management keeps changing, is generally considered to be a good one. a) that 'That' cannot be used in a non-defining relative clause. It can be used in a defining relative clause to define the noun it supports. b) who 'Who' refers to a person or people. c) where 'Where' refers to a place. d) which This is the correct answer!

2. The company, __________, must be held responsible for the health of its staff. a) which a family-run organisation There is no verb in this phrase. b) who is a family-run organisation The company is a thing not a person. c) that is a family-run organisation 'That' cannot be used in a non-defining relative clause. d) a family-run organisation This is the correct answer. Another possible answer is 'which is a family-run organisation'.

3. The results of the experiment, __________, will be published in the Medical Journal. a) the university funded The omission of the relative pronoun is only possible if the clause defines the noun. The comma after 'experiment' tells us that this clause does not define the noun but only describes it. b) of which the university funded There are too many words in this clause. c) which the university funded This is the correct answer. d) the university of which funded 'of which' has no meaning in this sentence.

4. The results of the experiment will be published in the Medical Journal, __________ tend to be doctors. a) of which the readers The word order is wrong. b) the readers of which This is the correct answer. Another possible answer is 'whose readers'. c) who the readers This is not the right answer. d) the readers A relative pronoun is missing.

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5. Criticisms have been made of the actions of the fire fighters, __________. a) some members of the public are losing patience with A relative pronoun is needed here to refer to 'the fire fighters'. b) who some members of the public are losing patience with This is the correct answer. Another possible answer is 'with whom some members of the public are losing patience'. c) with whom some members of the public are losing patience with 'With ' is repeated unnecessarily in this clause. d) with who some members of the public are losing patience This clause has mixed both formal style (preposition at the beginning) and informal style ('who' instead of whom).

6. Children were employed in factories, __________ were in basements without natural light. a) which many This is the wrong word order and there is a word missing. b) which many of them There are too many words in this answer. c) many of them A relative pronoun is needed in this clause. d) many of which This is the correct answer.

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