Reduced relative clauses

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.

Look at these reduced relative clauses using participles

1.	Who is that man waving at us?
2.	Most of those trying to get tickets were unsuccessful.
3.	All the workers made redundant last month have now been found new jobs.
4.	The money being collected will go to help a new orphanage

Preliminary exercise Now make full relative clauses using who or which and the verb be

1.	Who is that man waving at us?
2.	Most of those trying to get tickets were unsuccessful.
2.	All the workers made redundant last month have now been found new jobs.
4.	The money being collected will go to help a new orphanage.

Basic principles for making reduced relative clauses

1. We can only make reduced relative clauses when the relative pronoun is the subject of the relative clause.

• Active

• That woman who is talking to my wife is our local Member of Parliament. That woman talking to my wife is ...

• That woman who my wife is talking to is our local Member of Parliament. NOT That woman my wife talking to is ...

• Passive

• The man who is being taken away by the police is our neighbour. The man being taken away by the police...

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

Exercise 1a - match the sentence halves and complete the sentences below using a present (-ing) participle. Don't worry about punctuation.

1.	Some employees have to work late	a	She moved to Australia
2.	A doctor lived in this house before us	b	She caught a shoplifter
3.	Some doctors attended a conference on malaria	c	They will be provided with taxis
4.	A blonde woman is wearing a dark suit	d	They urged governments to act
5.	Several roads lead to the city centre	e	They were all closed for the parade
6.	A woman runs the local shop	f	She is the new boss

1.	Employees .
2.	The doctor .
3.	Doctors .
4.	The blonde woman .
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 worry about punctuation.

1.	A driver has been stopped by the police	a	He is going out with my sister
2.	A dog was hit by our neighbour's car	b	It is not seriously hurt
3.	A young man is playing the guitar	c	He was three times over the legal limit
4.	A lorry overturned on the motorway	d	He was nearly knocked down by a bus
5.	A horse is being ridden by a jockey in blue	e	It caused two lanes to be closed
6.	An elderly man was crossing the street	f	It is the odds-on favourite to win

1.	The driver .
2.	The dog .
3.	The young man .
4.	A lorry .
5.	The horse .
6.	An elderly man .

We can't use a reduced relative clause: