Essential vs. Non-Essential Clauses
True or False? Non-essential clauses give extra information and MUST be surrounded by commas. Give an example
True. (e.g., "My brother, who lives in London, is coming to visit.")
Fill in the blank: "Be careful with that knife, you might cut ________!"
yourself
Choose the correct word to fill in the blank: "The dog wagged ________ tail."
A) its B) it's C) their D) his's
A (its). ("its" is possessive; "it's" means "it is").
Which sentence is correct? And why?
A) The car, that I bought yesterday, is blue.
B) The car, which I bought yesterday is blue.
C) The car, which I bought yesterday, is blue.
D) The car which I bought yesterday, is blue.
C. (Non-essential clauses need commas on both sides, and you cannot use "that" in a non-essential clause with commas).
Choose the correct option to fill in the blank: "Mary and John looked at ________ and smiled."
A) themselves
B) each other
C) theirselves
D) one to another
B (each other). (They are looking at the other person, not at their own reflection).
What are the plural forms of these three words: Child, Person, Foot?
Children, People, Feet.
Combine these two sentences into one using an essential relative clause: "The woman is my teacher. She is wearing a red dress."
The woman who is wearing a red dress is my teacher.
Fill in the blank with the correct reflexive pronoun: "The computer turns ________ off after 30 minutes of inactivity."
itself.
Which sentence uses the correct preposition of time?
A) I will see you in Monday.
B) My birthday is at October.
C) The movie starts at 8:00 PM.
D) We always go skiing on the winter.
C. (Days use on, months and seasons use in, specific times use at).
Add commas to this sentence ONLY if it contains a non-essential clause: "The Eiffel Tower which is located in Paris is a famous landmark."
"The Eiffel Tower, which is located in Paris, is a famous landmark." (Because there is only one Eiffel Tower, the information is extra/non-essential).
Find and correct the mistake in this sentence: "My sister and I made this cake by ourselves."
The sentence is actually correct! (Trick question to test your confidence). Alternatively, "We made this cake ourselves" is also fine.
Which is the correct response to "How long have you lived here?"
A) I live here since 5 years.
B) I have lived here for 5 years.
C) I have lived here since 5 years.
D) I am living here for 5 years.
B. (Use for with a duration of time, and since with a specific starting point in the past).
Explain how the meaning changes between these two sentences:
"The students who failed the test must take extra classes."
"The students, who failed the test, must take extra classes."
Sentence 1 (Essential) means only the specific students who failed have to take extra classes. Sentence 2 (Non-essential) implies that all the students failed the test, and therefore, all of them must take extra classes.
Read this scenario and explain if they should use a reflexive pronoun or "each other" and why?:
"Two boxers are in a ring. Boxer A punches Boxer B. Boxer B punches Boxer A." What are they doing?
They are hitting each other. (If they were hitting themselves, Boxer A would be punching Boxer A, and Boxer B would be punching Boxer B!).
Correct the three common mistakes in this sentence: "I am agree with you, it depends of the weather, but I can't to go today."
"I am agree" -> "I agree"
"depends of" -> "depends on"
"can't to go" -> "can't go" (or cannot g Corrected sentence: "I agree with you, it depends on the weather, but I can't go today."