2. The Man Who Sued God

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As we will see later in the unit, there are two main kinds of relative clauses: Defining and non-defining.

Can you see the difference between the following sentences?

Paco, who is travelling around the world, is an excellent student of History.

Andrés introduced me to a man who came from Wagga Wagga.

Icono IDevice Curiosity

Once in the room, Paco unpacks his suitcase and sits down on the bed. In front of it, there is a beautiful small table on which there is a television set. There are some magazines on the right too. He picks up a TV magazine and has a look at it. He reads the plot of a comedy which will be broadcast tonight.

The Man Who Sued God1

 

 
 
 
 
 

The Man Who Sued God is an Australian film directed by Mark Joffe. It centres on Steve Myers (Billy Connelly), an ex-lawyer who is not able to collect the money from the insurance company for his boat, which was destroyed by lightning. Steve deems the accident an "act of God"; so, he decides to sue the man at the root of his problem, that is, God. Anna (Judy Davis), a jaded journalist who is really interested in Steve's case, decides to help him out in his quest to collect what he thinks corresponds to him from the Almighty. It is in Court that God's representatives will have to admit that Steve's yacht was actually His Act, accept it, and compensate him, or deny it altogether, and thereby deny His existence, and leave the onus on Steve to prove his claim. The Man Who Sued God made over $7.7 million at the Australian Box Office and made a debut at number one on the week of 21-28 October 2001.

1 Adapted from Wikipedia.org


Icono de iDevice Solved exercise
In the passage above there are some defining and non-defining relative clauses.

Complete the chart with the relative clauses that appear in the text and the noun they refer to.

noun defining relative clause noun non-defining relative clause
       
       
       

 


Icono de IDevice de pregunta Self-Assessment activity

Decide whether the following sentences are defining or non-defining relative clauses.


By shiwoo. C. Commons

1. Paco has unpacked his suitcase, which is a big red one.

  
a. Defining
b. Non-defining

2. The receptionist who helped Paco was very kind.
  
a. Defining
b. Non-defining

3. He could find the jumper which he thought he had lost.
  
a. Defining
b. Non-defining

4. Paco, who is one of Andrés's friends, is travelling around the world.
  
a. Defining
b. Non-defining

Icono IDevice Further knowledge

To have a further look at defining and non-defining relative clauses, click on the picture below.

Now we have introduced relative clauses, let's have a look at the structure of some interesting sentences in English. Come on, they are very easy!
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