Relative clauses with types of exercises and some tips

To do well in multiple-choice exercises on relative clauses, students need to understand the basics of relative pronouns,relative clauses in English, and change from the form of exercise

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA

TRƯỜNG THPT NGUYỄN THỊ LỢI

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

RELATIVE CLAUSES WITH TYPES OF EXERCISES

AND SOME TIPS

Người thực hiện: Nguyễn Thị Xuân

Chức vụ: Giáo viên SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Tiếng Anh

THANH HÓA NĂM 2021

CONTENTS Page

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Reasons for studying: 1

1.1 Reasons for the theoretical side 1

1.2 Practical reasons 1

1.3 Reasons for urgency 1

1.4 Reasons for the condition and capacity of the instructor 2

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Methods of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

4.1.Subjects of study: grade 11 students 2

4.2 Scope of study: practice test and semester exam questions 2

5 New features in the study’s result 2

PART II: CONTENT 2

2 Relative pronouns and relative clauses 3

2.1 Types of relative clauses and pronouns 3

2.2 Use of the relative pronouns 4

3 Some suggestions to doing types of exercises effectively 8

3.1 Completing each blank with a suitable relative pronoun 8

3.2 Joining two or more single sentences into a compound sentence appropriate relational pronouns 9

3.3 Finding a mistake in each sentence 11

3.4 Omission of relative clause 12

PART III PROCEDURE 13

1 Experimental time: 4 months 13

2 Arrange the experimental groups 13

3 Educational effects of the study 13

PART IV CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 17

1 Conclusion 17

2 Suggestions 17

REFERENCES: 18

DANH MỤC SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM 19

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Reasons for studying:

1.1 Reasons for the theoretical side

In the trend of globalization today, the importance of English cannot bedenied and ignored because it is widely used everywhere in the world Alongwith the development of technology, medicine, engineering and education,English plays a very important role Therefore, learning English becomes evenmore necessary than ever

In Vietnam, as in many Asian countries, English is now taught as acompulsory school subject from an early age (it is officially taught from grade 3onwards) (Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), 2008), and manychanges have been initiated in the teaching of the subject in the last few years.Implement multiple-choice test for English subjects becomes popular andcompulsory in high school graduation exams, university exams, and colleges ofthe Ministry of Education and Training In today's high school English program,relative clauses are a very important part of knowledge, included in graduationexams and university and college exams To do well in multiple-choice exercises

on relative clauses, students need to understand the basics of relative pronouns,relative clauses in English, and change from the form of exercises Based on theresults of the tests, lesson plans, assessments on the receptive ability of NguyenThi Loi School students and observation of the students’ activities in choosingthe best answer in each test of grade 11 students, the conductor can recognizethe difficulties of students in the process of solving different types of exercises

related to relative clauses Therefore, I decided to choose the topic: “Relative

clauses with types of exercises and some tips”

1.2 Practical reasons.

With the direction of the Ministry of Education on innovating the teachingmethods of English subject under the 2020 project and the changes in the forms

of tests, the grammatical knowledge plays an important role

1.3 Reasons for urgency.

According to the Department of Education's guidelines for the 2014-2015school-year assessment innovation and the changes in the form of tests, thegrammatical knowledge account for 60% of the 45-minute tests and semester

1.4 Reasons for the condition and capacity of the instructor.

Based on the results of the tests, lesson plans, assessments on thereceptive ability of Nguyen Thi Loi School students and observation of thestudents’ activities in solving grammatical exercises related to relative clauses ofgrade 11 students, the conductor can recognize the difficulties in the process ofteaching and learning relative clauses with different exercises

2 Aims of the study

The aims of this research are to investigate which difficulties studentshave in doing exercises concerned with relative clauses and to provide studentssome tips to choose the best answer

3 Methods of the study

- Observe grammatical classes

- Consult many documents, especially methods of study

- Study colleagues’ experience

4 Scope of the study

4.1.Subjects of study: grade 11 students.

The research has been carried out in 2 classes of grade 11: 11A (in thecontrolling group) and 11G (in the experimental group) at Nguyen Thi Loi HighSchool

4.2 Scope of study: practice test and semester exam questions

5 New features in the study’s result

In the study with the researcher’s innovation, the new approaches help students

to identify the types of exercises and to solve situation better

PART II: CONTENT

1 General difficulties in the process of teaching and learning relative

clauses

1.1 On the learner's side:

Nguyen Thi Loi High School is located in a tourist area, Sam son beach,

so most of the students don’t focus on studying seriously because of their parttime jobs It is the thinking of earning money early and easily that makes themneglect study They spend the less time doing homework and preparing lessonsbefore class Besides, high school students have too many subjects to learnduring the school year

The passive learning attitude during lessons in some classes observed bythe teachers also shows that learners do not seem to pay adequate attention toself-improvement in the learning process As a result, learners can’t understandand remember the content of lesson

Another drawback is that learner don’t focus on enriching theirvocabulary, so it’s difficult for them to understand the text.

In my observation in each lesson, learners remember relative pronounsand relative clauses mechanically Therefore, they often mistake the typesrelative pronouns and the use of relative clauses

1.2 On the teacher's side.

The application traditional methods in language teaching makes learnersfeel boring and it’s difficult for them to understand lesson

Some teachers, although are aware of the need to change teachingmethods, they cannot apply many effective measures to change the situation due

to the limited time in class

Some teachers only pay attention to good learners not to bad students.Therefore, most of learners don’t have understand lesson and get bad mark

By analyzing subjective and objective difficulties in the process ofteaching and learning reading, focusing on four basic types of exercises:

Completing each blank with a suitable relative pronoun, Joining two or more single sentences into a compound sentence appropriate relational pronouns, Finding a mistake in each sentence and Omission of relative clause The aim of

the research is to suggest some solutions to help students do relative – clauseexercises more effectively and eventually improve their results and grades inexams

2 Relative pronouns and relative clauses

To help students do exercises better, I use some mind maps to teach relative pronouns and clauses:

2.1 Types of relative clauses and pronouns

Relational clauses in English include the following three types:

+ Defining clause (defining clause)

+ Definite clause (non-defining clause)

+ Connective clause (connective clause)

In study, I only mention two types of relative clauses with the following map:

2.2 Use of the relative pronouns

2.2.1 Defining relative clause

The teacher can use the following tables to help students understand the use of each relative pronouns better:

Table 1: Functions of relative pronouns

Relative clauses Defining

+ They give us essential

not essential + Comma is compulsory

Relative Pronouns: Who/ Whom/

Whose Relative adverbs: Where/ When/

Why

Table 2: places of relative pronouns

Relative pronouns

not ommission

they are subjects

they are put after prepositions

omission: they are objects

not put after prpositions: who/

that/ whose

put after prepositions:

whom/ which

Table 3: Notes of “that”

Ex 1: I don’t like the man I met yesterday at the party last night.

In this example, students see “the man/ I” before and after the gap, so they

choose “D”

Ex 2: The novel you told me about was interesting.

correct

Ex 3: The novel about you told me was interesting.

2.2.2 Non - defining relative clause

Table 4: Functions of relative pronouns

The teacher can use the following tables to explain the use of the non – definingrelative clause more clearly:

In the table 4 and 5, students can know when they choose “who/ whom/ which”and which function of each pronoun in the relative clause

it's required to put after indefinite

pronouns, the superlative

Subject Object Possessive

Table 5: cases of using non – defining relative clause

Ex: Peter, _everyone suspected, turned out to be innocent.

In this example, students see “Peter/ everyone” before and after the gap, so they

choose “B”

relative pronouns

put after proper nouns

put after "possessive adjectives + Noun" or possessive case

demonstrative adjectives + Noun

2.2.3 Use of the relative adverbs

To explain the use of the relative adverbs, the teacher can use the following

table:

Ex: I returned to the hometown I was born.

3 Some suggestions to doing types of exercises effectively

3.1 Completing each blank with a suitable relative pronoun

This is a form of exercise that requires students to understand how to userelative pronouns, functions, for people or for things and in different types ofrelative clauses, which relative pronoun is appropriate Students can apply theknowledge provided above to this type of exercise

Step 1: Identify the noun that refers to person or thing

Step 2: Which function of relative pronoun

Exercise 1: Choose the best answer.

1 They live in a house _ roof could collapse at any time

2 This university has over 6,000 students, many of _ come from

3 Lam had a notebook, _ he wrote new words.

4 The girl _ photo was in the local paper lives near my house

5 What’s the name of the man _?

A whom Annie works B that Annie works

6 Post office is a place _ you can buy stamps, mail letters and packages, and receive mail

7 My uncle _ you met yesterday is a lawyer

8 I can answer the question _you say is very difficult

9 This is Mr Jones, _invention has helped hundreds of deaf people

10 The doctor is examining a patient _was taken to hospital last night

21 She cycled from London to Glasgow, is pretty good for a woman of75

22 Most folk songs are ballads have simple words and tell simplestories

23 I think the reason we get on so well is that we both enjoy talking

24 Keith studied well at university, made his parents happy

25 That house, was built 10 years ago, is still in good condition

3.2 Joining two or more single sentences into a compound sentence appropriate relational pronouns

This is a form of exercise, when teaching I usually have students do it in theform of an essay, and instructions to do it in the form of an essay Then apply it

as a multiple choice exercise Usually, this type of exercise when moving to amultiple-choice test is usually written: giving two single sentences and thenchoosing the best matching option

Step 1: Identify the similarity between the two sentences.

In general, students can identify the repeat of the noun or the pronouns: he, she,

it, they, her, him, it or possessive adjective: his, her, its, their in the secondsentence

Step 2: Replace the repeating noun or pronoun with an appropriate relative

pronoun

In this step, the second sentence is used as a relative clause

Step 3: Insert that relative clause into the first sentence.

Step 4: Observing the noun put before the relative pronoun to decide whether to

use the comma or not

An example is given below:

Ex 1: I like the novel My sister bought it for me yesterday.

The pronoun it used in the second sentence refers to the noun the novel In other words, they both denote the same thing It is the object of verb “bought” Therefore we use a subject relative pronoun like which or that to replace it.

 I like the novel which/ that my sister bought for me yesterday.

Another example is given below:

Ex 2: My friend John has just written a best – selling novel He went to the sameschool as me

The pronoun he used in the second sentence refers to the noun My friend John.

In other words, they both denote the same person He is the subject of verb

“helped” Therefore we use a subject relative pronoun like who or that to

replace it However, in the first sentence, “My friend John” is used here, studentonly choose “who”

 My friend John, who went to the same school as me, has just written a best –

selling novel

Exercise 2: Combine the sentences using a suitable relative pronoun

1 The old man is a famous doctor He lives next the door

2 He is the only man He can solve this problem

3 The man is intelligent He loves you.

3.3 Finding a mistake in each sentence

* Guide students: In this case students should pay attention to the nouns put

before and after the relative pronoun, preposition and comma

Ex: Today we (A) know that (B) the Earth is one of nine planets who (C) orbit (D) the Sun

In this example, “planets” referring to thing is put before “who”, so “who” is replaced “which/that”

Exercise 3: Find a mistake in each sentence

1 Baseball is the only sport in which I am interested in

A B C D

2 I can assure you that John is a man who you can absolutely depend in

4 I would like to write about several problems which I have faced them since

3.4 Omission of relative clause

Step 1: Identify the relative clause

Step 2: Observe the noun put the before the relative pronoun:

+ If that noun is used with “the first, the second / the only or the superlative” or

“” S + modal verb + V + O”, omission of relative clause with “to verb” is thebest

+ If that noun is not used with “the first, the second / the only or thesuperlative”, we will consider the verb in the relative clause In the case, theverb is in the passive, omission of relative clause with past participle is the best;the verb is in the active, we choose present participle

Ex 1: The man who is sitting next to you is my uncle.

 The man sitting to you is my uncle

Ex 2: The books which were written by To Hoai are interesting

 The books written by To Hoai are interesting

Ex 3: He is the first student who can find out the solution for that problem

 He is the first student to find out the solution for that problem

Exercise 4: Rewrite the sentences using present and past participles

1 Do you the man who is talking to my father?