Saturday, November 13

The Beach: Prepositions in a Relative Clause

Although many people didn't like this movie, I appreciated it. The plot is original and the circumstances the characters have to face can be very intriguing. The setting is beautiful Thailand, so we can always enjoy the landscape and photography. I took advantage of the dialogs in the scene to practice writing relative clauses with prepositions. It made the class much more interesting, since this grammar point is unattractive to most of the students. I hope you like it.


A.Rewrite the clauses below, using who, whom, which, where or that. Pay attention to the position of the preposition. Remember that when a relative pronoun is the object of a preposition, the preposition appears in the beginning of the clause in formal English. In informal English, the preposition usually appears in the end. Write both formal and informal versions of your answers.


1. Keaty only cared about cricket and Christianity.


The only thing ...


2. There were the Swedes, Christo, Sten and Karl. They only care about fishing and skiing.


The two things ...


3. The cook worries about rinsing his hands with soap and water because of the smell of fish.


One thing ...


4. Tourists are interested in visiting the beaches in Thailand.


One thing ...


5. Etienne is good at soccer.


One sport ...


6. He didn't like Bugs. He has disagreements with this person.


One person...


Answer Key:


1.
F - the only thing about which Keaty ...

I - The only thing which Keaty cared about was ...


2.
F - The two things about which the Swedes cared were ...

I - The two things which the Swedes cared about were ...

3.
F - The is one thing about which the cook worries is...

I - The one thing which the cook worries about is ...


4.
F - One thing in which tourists are interested is ...

I - One thing which tourists are interested in is ...


5.
F - One sport at which Etienne is good is ...

I _ One sport which Etienne is good at is ...


6.
F - One person with whom he has disagreements is ...

I - One person whom (who) he has disagreements with is ...