Relative Clause / Adjective Clause: Mind-Bending Universe Theories (English / ESL Video)
Relative Clause / Adjective Clause: Mind-Bending Universe Theories (English / ESL Video)
Synopsis of English / ESL Video
Enlighten your students with some mind-bending universe theories & present relative clause / adjective clause with relative pronouns at the intermediate level.
Title of English / ESL Video
Mind-Bending Theories about the Universe
Target English Grammar
Relative clauses (also known as adjective clause or adjectival clause):
– Defining clauses (also known as restrictive clauses or identifying clauses).
– Non-defining clauses (also known as non-restrictive clauses or non-identifying clauses).
– Relative pronouns.
– Relative adverbs.
Student Proficiency Level
Intermediate level grammar
Suggested Courses
General English
Instructions
– Play the video in class after delivering a warm-up activity first.
– Pause the video whenever the narrator asks students a question to give students time to answer. For example, after elicitations and concept checking questions (CCQs).
Summary of English Grammar: Relative Clause / Adjective Clause
Approximate chronological order:
Theories about the Universe:
– Starts at 0:00. Ends at 5:10
– The Simulation Hypothesis
– The Many-Worlds Theory
– Quantum Theory and Consciousness
– The Hologram Universe Theory
– Speed of Light and Time
Grammar Rules and Explanation:
Function:
– To give information about a person, place, thing or time.
– They are common in everyday communication and also in academic writing.
– Two types of clauses: defining and non-defining clause.
– Also known as: restrictive and non-restrictive or identifying and non-identifying clause.
Form:
Relative pronoun / relative adverb + subject + verb
Defining Clause:
Function:
– To give essential information to identify a person, place, thing or time.
Relative Pronouns:
– who = people: Maybe in one new universe you married someone who didn’t go to school with you.
– which = things: In future, our computers will be advanced enough to create simulations which are as realistic as real life.
Relative Adverbs:
– where = place: The universe is a place where everything is a hologram.
– when = time: Travelling faster than the speed of light will send you back to a time when nothing existed.
*No comma before the relative pronoun or relative adverb.
*that = who or which (in informal language)
– Example 1: In future, our computers will be advanced enough to create simulations that are as realistic as real life.
– Example 2: Maybe in one new universe you married someone that didn’t go to school with you.
Non-Defining Clause:
Function:
– To give non-essential information. The sentence makes sense without it.
Relative Pronouns:
– which: Computers today can already create highly complex simulations, which are very realistic.
– who: Last year you married your partner, who was your classmate at school.
Relative Adverbs:
– where: You’re actually just looking at a blank surface, where fake images are projected on.
– when: One day, when human technology is advanced enough, we will know the truth.
*Notice that there is a comma before the relative pronoun or relative adverb.
*We can’t use that to replace who or which.
Possessive Relative Pronoun:
whose = of who / of which
– It is the possessive relative pronoun of both people and things.
– Example 1 (thing): The brain is a computer whose function is to store our consciousness.
– Example 2 (person): Albert Einstein, whose reputation is world famous, is one of the inventors of quantum theory.
*** English / ESL Video: No Music Version ***
(2061)