Ngữ pháp nâng cao dành cho học sinh THPT - Lession 01: Understanding complicated sentnces

 Thẩm Tâm Vy, Nov 12th, 2020 ADVANCED GRAMMAR FOR HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS - 01 
ADVANCED GRAMMAR FOR HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS - 01 
UNDERSTANDING COMPLICATED SENTNCES 
 When clauses are made part of others (embedded), this can make sentences 
harder to understand, causing problems for readers or listeners, especially if the 
natural flow of the ‘outside' clause is interrupted. 
 - The government, if recent reports can be trusted, has decided to raise interest rates. 
 - The strikes which have caused serious disruption to travellers on a number of 
airlines in recent months are likely to continue if agreement is not reached. 
 - A bus which ran downhill out of control after its brakes failed crashed into a factory 
wall, damaging the premises and slightly injuring several passengers. 
I. Why do the embedded clauses make the above sentences harder to read? 
Circle the letter of the best explanation. 
A. They separate the subject from the object. 
B. They separate the subject from the verb. 
C. They separate the verb from the object. 
 Embedded clauses can separate words which belong together, and put together 
words that dont. 
 - Mr Andrews, when he saw the policeman, started running as fast as he could. 
 (It was not the policeman who started running.) 
 - A Liverpool man who lives alone except for his cat has just won the lottery. 
 (The cat has not won the lottery.) 
 - Pasteur's discovery that microscopic bacteria caused diseases revolutionised 
medicine. 
 (It was not the diseases that revolutionised medicine.) 
 Descriptive phrases can have the same effect. 
 - The woman in the blue dress over there by the parking meter looks very like Susie, 
 (The parking meter doesnt look like Susie.) 
 - That picture of the children standing in front of the palace talking to the Prime 
Minister is wonderful. 
 (It is not the Prime Minister that is wonderful.) 
II. Underline the embedded clause or phrase. 
 The dog that Harry gave as a birthday present to his Aunt Elizabeth was hideously 
ugly. 
1. The car that was parked outside the front gate needed cleaning. 
2. Mr Fisher, after he had completed his discussions with the bank manager, drew a 
large sum of money out of the bank and caught the next plane. 
3. One way of deciding what to do if you have diliculty in deciding your next course of 
action is to toss a coin. 
4. The people in the enquiry office on the second floor of Robinsons don't know 
anything. 
 When ‘that’ is left out, this can cause difficulty. 
 - Several people Martin knew well when he was at university years before had now 
become prominent members of the government. (= ' people that Martin knew...') 
 - A man who claimed he was an experienced surgeon, and carried out several 
operations, had no medical training whatever. (= '...claimed that he was ...') 
 Extra difficulty can be caused when relative clauses end in prepositions. 
 - The spanner Oliver was trying to get the wheel-nuts of with was the wrong size. 
III. Make these sentences easoer to read by adding that. 
1. The car he was driving must have cost by a fortune. 
  The car that he ..................................................... 
2. Some papers a dustman found lying in the street were secret government documents. 
3. A picture a schoolboy bought for €5 has turned out to be worth €10,000. 
4. She insisted she thought he knew she was on the train. 
5. If the details you provided were correct, a new password will have been e-mailed to 
 you. 
6. The man the terrorists bought the guns from was an undercover policeman. 
7. MPs are demanding an investigation over claims reporters hacked into their phones. 
8. A girl Helen was at school with is now a very successful TV producer. 
9. The ladies men admire, I've heard, would shudder at a wicked word. (Dorothy 
 Parker) 
10. Money makes money, and the money money makes makes money. (Benjamin 
 Franklin) 
IV. Find the beginnings of sentences 1-5 in the box. 
0 .C. his brother was a beautiful green colour. 
1. ... the Prime Minister had the whole country crying with laughter. 
2. ... baby elephants would look wonderful in the living room. 
3. ... the number 10 bus had just flown in from Iceland. 
4. ... her father smelt very strange. 
5. ... my wife blew up in Austria. 
A. Margaret insisted that the picture her daughter had painted of 
B. A story that was published in yesterday's paper about 
C. The toy train Harry bought for  
D. The car I bought to go to Greece with 
E. The sinister-looking man who was sitting alone on 
F. The aftershave Sue gave 
 Reduced relative clauses can make sentences particularly hard to read. 
 - Many of the objects recovered by the police were found to haye been stolen from 
homes in the neighbourhood.. (= '...the objects that were recovered...') 
 Thẩm Tâm Vy, Nov 12th, 2020 ADVANCED GRAMMAR FOR HIGHSCHOOL STUDENTS - 01 
 - The majority of those interviewed were opposed to the recommendations. (= '. .. those 
who were interviewed ... ') 
 - Two wolves seen roaming in the New Forest are believed to have escaped from a 
nearby private zoo. (= '... wolves that have been seen ...') 
 - Most of the great museums built in the 19
th
 century were partly financed by donations 
from wealthy philanthropists. (= ... museums that were built ... ) 
V. Put in words from the box to make the sentence easier to read. 
are are were which which who 
 Many of the gold and silver objects excavated from the 3000-year-old royal tombs 
resemble items of jewellery still made today by craftsmen trained in the traditionai 
skills. 
 ........................................................................................................................................... 
 ........................................................................................................................................... 
 ........................................................................................................................................... 
 Regular past participles look like past tenses, and this can cause confusion. 
 A number of the children asked for comments on the proposals to expel some 
immigrants told the police they disagreed. (The children didnt ask for comments: the 
meaning is '... the children who were asked ... ') 
VI. Rewrite the words in italics to make the meaning clearer. 
0. A young civil servant arrested after shootings on Tyneside left one person dead is to 
be charged with murder. (' civil servant who was arrested ') 
1. A separatist accused of leading an attack on a French police barracks in which four 
gendarmes died has been arrested. 
2. Police called to a house in Hampshire after neighbours reported cries for help found 
18-year-old M F stuck in a small toilet window after being locked out of his home. 
3. Three immigrants returned to their countries by the authorities are to appeal against 
their deportation. 
Complicated negative structures can cause confusion. 
 It was not that Mary didn't believe that John had not been telling the truth. (Did she 
think he had or not?) 
VII. Read the sentences and answer the questions. 
1.There is no sound basis for denying reports that no members of the expedition failed 
to reach their goal. Did they all get there? 
 ......................................................... 
2 It is not unlikely that the ongoing investigation will show that the allegations of 
corruption against the President are not without foundation. Is the President probably 
corrupt? 
 ......................................................... 
3 She didnt not want to go to the party; she just didnt want to go unless Harry wasnt 
going. Did she want to see Harry at the party? 
 ......................................................... 
ANSWERS 
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