fourth

English File
edition

Upper Intermediate
Extra grammar material –
defining and non-defining
relative clauses

This material has been developed in collaboration with Instituto Cambridge Argentina and should
only be used to complement Adults 5 courses by IC teachers, students and followers.

© Oxford University Press 2024

 4 GRAMMAR DEFINING AND NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES
1 Look at the photo and the title of the text. What do you think it is about?

Is time running out for Europe’s ski resorts?

At the ski resort in Saint-Firmin, France, mechanics are taking down the ski lifts.
The mayor of the town of Saint-Firmin, which used to be covered in snow for several months each winter,
is finally giving up. Although the situation in Saint-Firmin is extreme, ski resorts all over the Alps may face
a similar future. Over 200 million visitors visit mountain regions in the Alps, which cross eight different
countries, to ski. For decades, the thousands of ski resorts in the region were covered in white snow from
late November until early March. In recent years, dry winters and warmer temperatures mean less snow.
Some ski resorts, which depend on snow levels, open later and close earlier than ever before. Experts
blame climate change, which is causing warmer temperatures in both the summer and winter.
In places where the ski slopes are higher in the mountains, there are fewer problems with snow levels.
The Nordic countries, which have high mountain elevations and are further north, are unlikely to suffer.
The least snow is found in areas that are lower, generally in Italy, Slovenia and Germany. These are the ski
resorts that are most popular with European tourists. They are often towns that depend on ski tourism.
Without it, restaurants and hotels will close, and many people will lose their jobs. Sophie Carter is a student
who cleans guest bedrooms in a hostel in the Austrian Alps. ‘This is the fourth year that I have worked
here. I used to come here when I was a child and I’ve noticed a big difference in the snow levels. I’m lucky
because my job here is just casual. I get free food and accommodation at the hostel where I work, but I
don’t earn a lot. It’s really a way that I can ski every season without spending a lot of money. But I know that
the hostel owners, whose income depends on the ski season, are worried.’
Emmanuel Perrier is an experienced French skier. He is taking his young grandchildren, who are aged four
and six years old, to the slopes for the first time. However, he is pessimistic about their opportunities to ski
where he did as a child. ‘I have skied on glaciers that my grandchildren will never get to see because they
are melting so quickly,’ he says sadly.

2 Now read the text and complete the sentences with the correct word or number.
1 More than million skiers go to the Alps every year.
2 You can visit the Alps in European countries.
3 In the past, winters didn’t use to be as or .
4 Ski resorts can’t open without .
5 There are fewer problems with snow in countries in the .
6 Some in Europe are melting.

3 Look at the highlighted sentences in the text. Which sentences have extra information
that is not essential to the sentence? What is the extra information?

2 © Oxford University Press 2024

 1 W
 e use defining relative clauses to give essential
The Austrian Alps are a mountain range. information about the noun it refers to.
Many people go skiing there.
• S ometimes we can use that instead of which
The Austrian Alps are a mountain range where
or who in the defining relative clauses.
many people go skiing.
• If who/that or which/that is the object of a verb
My dad is an experienced skier. He has visited
in a defining relative clause, we can omit it.
this resort many times.
We can’t omit it if it’s followed by a verb. Compare:
My dad is an experienced skier who has visited The ski resort (that) we used to visit is closed.
this resort many times. The ski resort that closed was our favourite.
Marta is a shop owner. Her ski equipment
is very cheap.
non-defining relative clauses
Marta is a shop owner whose ski equipment
is very cheap.
1 Dry winters, which have little snow or rain,
are common.
• R
 elative clauses provide more information about a 2 The hikers, who take this trip every year,
noun. We often use them to combine two sentences were surprised.
using relative pronouns (who/that for people, where
3 The restaurant, whose owners are locals,
for places, when for time, which for things and whose
doesn’t get many customers.
for possession).

defining relative clauses 1 W

 e use non-defining relative clauses to give extra
information about the noun or clause. If we remove
1 Mont Blanc is a glacier that is melting. the non-defining relative clause, it doesn’t affect
how we understand the main sentence. Compare:
2 Grindelwald is the ski resort where I learned
to ski. Sophie, who studies environmental science, warned
3 Nobody listened to the man who/that warned us about the snow levels.
about the snow levels. Sophie, who studies environmental science, warned
us about the snow levels.
• Non-defining relative clauses are always placed
between two commas.
• We can’t omit the non-defining relative pronouns
or use the relative pronoun that.

4 Write the sentences in the correct order. 6 Write sentences with defining and non-defining
1 that / home / report / heard / the / everyone / relative clauses.
news / stayed / at 1 Last year, there was a drought. The drought lasted
 for five months.

2 it / the / ever / thunder / that / heard / I’d / loudest
/ was 2 Monsoon seasons usually last three months.
 They are found in southeast Asia.

3 the / road / struck / where / the lightning / that’s /
place / the 3 Pedro is a meteorologist. I love his podcast.
 
4 is / the / floods / when / there / are / often / 4 The hurricane is getting close to our city. It’s a
autumn / season category four.
 
5 who / science / you / just / saw / is / my / teacher / 5 Mount Waialeale is an island in Hawaii. It rains the
man / the most in the whole world.
 
6 the / that / hotel / room / freezing / we / stayed / 6 The light breeze blew in through the window.
in / was It was very pleasant.
 
5 Cross out the relative pronoun that you can
omit in the sentences in Exercise 1.

© Oxford University Press 2024 3