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 PRACTICE ON POINTS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

• Adjective Clauses
• AdjCl-Diagnostic
• That / Which
• Who / Whom
• Whose
• Of which / With
• When/ Where
• Wh-ever
• All of which
• That vs Which
• Some or All
• Which-clause
• Phrases [be]
• Particpl Phrases
• Adj Clause Qz
• Related Pages

  That + [be] Deletion

Removing wordiness from descriptive clauses

 

 

 

Changing an Adjective Clause to a Phrase

ADJECTIVE CLAUSE	PHRASE
A modifying clause with – that, who, or which + [be] is, was, or were – can be shortened by removing  the pronoun and the auxiliary verb. Clauses with a prepositional phrase, a passive verb or a progressive verb typically use be as the auxiliary.	Delete the pronoun that, who, or which and the auxiliary verb is, was, or were.
The seat [that was] next to me was empty. (a prepositional phrase)	The seat next to me was empty.
The woman [who is] seated behind me is eating popcorn.  (a passive verb)	The woman seated behind me is eating popcorn.  (a past participial phrase)
A talk show [which is] trying to improve its rating may plan a fight. (a progressive active verb)	A talk show trying to improve its rating may plan a fight.   (a present participial phrase)

 

 

Related page:  Prepositions for Place   
Pages for That + (be) Deletion:  Particpl Phrases1   -ING   (present participle form)  Particpl Phrases2    -ED (past participle form

 

 

Practice

Daytime Talk Shows

 

 

1. Select the word from each menu that best completes the sentence. 
2. Compare your response to the answer by clicking the "check" button to the right. 

 

#	YOUR RESPONSE - SHORTEN THE CLAUSE	CHECK YOUR ANSWER
1.	A woman who was angry at her husband was angry at her husband angry at her husband told all her husband's personal secrets.
2.	A man who was trashing his girlfriend trashing his girlfriend trashed his girlfriend found himself face to face with her on stage.   trash (v.) = to speak unkindly, or rudely about someone
3.	A man who was separated from his brother at birth separating from his brother at birth separated from his brother at birth met his brother for the first time on stage.
4.	A man who was wearing a skirt wearing a skirt worn a skirt was explaining how comfortable it was.
5.	A man who was arrested for smoking marijuana arresting for smoking marijuana arrested for smoking marijuana was talking about how unfair the law is.
6.	A woman who was also named Madonna also named Madonna also naming Madonna told what it was like to live with her name. Madonna – a sexy, pop-music singer
7.	Two women who were dressed in bikinis dressing in bikinis dressed in bikinis were fighting in a pool of mud. mud (n.) – water mixed with dirt
8.	Two men who were married to the same woman married to the same woman marrying to the same woman told everyone exactly what they thought of her.
9.	A mother-in-law who was jealous of her daughter-in-law she jealous of her daughter-in-law jealous of her daughter-in-law called her "an unworthy pig". jealous (adj.) – feeling angry and unhappy because someone has something that you wish you had unworthy (adj.) – not deserving respect, not having value
10.	The host who was standing between two angry boyfriends stood between two angry boyfriends standing between two angry boyfriends was hit by a flying chair. flying chair – Someone threw a chair in the air and it accidentally hit him.