Essential English Language Skills
Specified Relative Clauses
Persons: who / that
Things or Ideas: which / that
Ownership: whose
Time: when / that
Location: where
Use who to refer to people (more formal than that). Use which for things or ideas (more formal than that). Who and which can often be omitted when they function as the object of the clause.
Example: The man (who / whom) she met at the airport is now her husband.
Example: The play (which / that) we watched yesterday was very boring.
Example: I remember the day (when / that) Prince Felipe and Leticia got married.
Explanatory Relative Clauses
People: who (Example: Mark, who lives next door, is German)
Things or Ideas: which (Example: Her latest book, which I have not read yet, is a best seller)
Possession: whose (Example: Rick, whose house I stayed at, is a musician)
Time: when (Example: In two months, when the holidays start, they’ll be leaving for Canada)
Place: where (Example: Ojeda, where Elena lives, is a small village)
Passive Voice
Formed with the verb to be + past participle of the main verb.
Example: They gave Ms. Roberts all the information she needed. → Ms. Roberts was given all the information she needed.
Uses of Passive Voice
- When the action is more important than the doer: Example: The flight was canceled.
- When the doer is unknown or obvious: Example: I was prescribed antibiotics.
Have / Get Something Done
Used for things that other people do for us. Get is more colloquial and emphasizes the result.
Example: She is having/getting her bike fixed.
Example: We had/got the house painted last month.
Example: They have had/got the carpets cleaned.
Example: I will have/get my hair cut before I go on holiday.
Vocabulary
Here’s a list of words and their different forms:
- agree – agreeing, agreement
- amuse – fun, amusement
- argue – discuss, argument
- develop – grow, development
- employ – employment
- excite – arouse, excitement
- govern – government
- improve – improved, improvement
- accommodate – accommodation
- accuse – blame, accusation
- acquire – acquisition
- apply – application
- celebrate – celebration
- classify – classification
- compose – composition
- connect – connection
- describe – description
- dictate – dictation
- educate – education
- explain – explanation
- invent – invention
- pollute – pollution
- pronounce – pronunciation
- solve – solution
- admit – admission
- confuse – confusion
- decide – decision
- discuss – discussion
- explode – explosion
- express – expression
- permit – permission
- recognize – recognition
List of adjectives and related nouns:
- active – activity
- curious – curiosity
- happy – happiness
- sad – sadness
- elegant – elegance
- important – importance
- intelligent – intelligence
- violent – violence
List of nouns and related adjectives:
- beauty – beautiful
- care – careful, careless
- harm – harmful, harmless
- home – homeless
- hope – hopeless
- pain – painful, painless
- power – powerful, powerless
- sleep – sleepless
- use – useful, useless
- accident – accidental
- environment – environmental
- influence – influential
- logic – logical
- music – musical
- nation – national
- origin – original
- politics – political
- profession – professional
- sentiment – sentimental
- act – active
- attract – attractive
- compete – competitive
- create – creative
- decide – decisive
- destroy – destructive
- effect – effective
- produce – productive
- advise – adviser
- believe – believable
- comfort – comfortable
- dispose – disposable
- enjoy – enjoyable
- predict – predictable
- rely – reliable
- understand – understandable
- access – accessible
- convert – convertible
- digest – digestive
- eat – edible
- respond – responsible