C1 October 6Th
Defining relative Clauses
A defining relative clause tells which noun we are talking about:
I like the woman who lives next door. (If I dont say who lives next door, then we dont know which woman I mean)
1: The relative pronoun is the subject: First, lets consider when the relative pronoun is the subject of a defining relative clause. We can use who, which or that. We use who for people and which for things. We can use that for people or things. The relative clause can come after the subject or the object of the sentence. We cant drop the relative pronoun. For example (clause after the object of the sentence):
Im looking for a secretary who / that can use a computer well. She has a son who / that is a doctor. We bought a house which / that is 200 years old. I sent a letter which / that arrived three weeks later.
More examples (clause after the subject of the sentence):
The people who / that live on the island are very friendly. The man who / that phoned is my brother. The camera which / that costs 100 is over there. The house which / that belongs to Julie is in London.
2: The relative pronoun is the object: Next, lets talk about when the relative pronoun is the object of the clause. In this case we can drop the relative pronoun if we want to. Again, the clause can come after the subject or the object of the sentence. Here are some examples: (clause after the object)
She loves the chocolate (which / that) I bought. We went to the village (which / that) Lucy recommended. John met a woman (who / that) I had been to school with. The police arrested a man (who / that) Jill worked with.
(clause after the subject)
The bike (which / that) I loved was stolen. The university (which / that) she likes is famous. The woman (who / that) my brother loves is from Mexico. The doctor (who / that) my grandmother liked lives in New York.
Read the following definitions and find the relative clauses.
Administrative Judge a professional hearing officer who works for the government to preside over hearings and appeals involving governmental agencies.
judge advocate n. a military officer with legal training who has the mixed duties of giving advice on legal matters to the group of officers sitting as a court-martial (both judge and jury) and acting as the prosecutor of the accused serviceman or woman.
bankruptcy court n. the specialized federal court in which bankruptcy matters under the Federal Bankruptcy Act are conducted.
court of appeals n. any court (state or federal) which hears appeals from judgments and rulings of trial courts or lower appeals courts. officer of the court n. any person who has an obligation to promote justice and effective operation of the judicial system, including judges, the attorneys who appear in court, bailiffs, clerks and other
Section II Read the following text and find all the Defining Relative clauses you find. Remember that the Definig Relative Clauses dont have commas.
If it hurts, sue!
In the United States the number of cases where people sue for damages or compensation for medical malpractice has grown at an alarming rate. This US obsession with litigation seems motivated by greed rather than the wish for justice. An eighty year old woman sued MacDonalds take-away for damages after she was scalded by the coffee. She was awarded $640,000. A woman sued her vet for $1million because of the emotional stress she suffered when he injured her pet iguana. A man who deliberately jumped in front of a train in the New York subway sued the transport company and won $650,000 damages because the train failed to stop. Thomas Wallace, a black American, claimed that he and his three sons suffered emotional distress when they came across the word nigger in their computer encyclopedia. Mr Wallace had typed the word nigger while searching for information on the Niger River. The computer told him that Joseph Conrad had written a novel in the 19th century called Nigger of the Narcissus, and that Martin Luther King had once been called a nigger by a white woman when he was 11 years old. Mr Wallace is now suing the encyclopedia company for $40 million. A British banker recently lost his job at a Canadian bank based in New York. He is suing the bank, stating that he suffered mental anguish because of his French boss's insistence on joking that the English were bad lovers and lousy cooks. He is claiming $20 million in damages.
Eager lawyers
There are over 800,000 American lawyers (70% of the world's total number), many of whom openly encourage such lawsuits. A lawyer often takes on a lawsuit as a sort of gamble. The lawyer enters an agreement with the client. If the client loses, the lawyer forfeits the legal fee. If, however, the lawsuit is won, the lawyer takes up to 50% of the amount awarded.
The consequences
Of course, the law on which such litigation is based was originally promulgated to protect the public from, for example, dishonest and irresponsible manufacturers or incompetent doctors. A highly litigious environment has, however, developed. Many people have lost
their sense of personal responsibility ("if it hurts, sue") and are ready to blame others for the slightest accident. Others are cynically making a lot of money from the legal situation. As a practical consequence, professional indemnity insurance premiums have risen. Certain professions, especially those within medicine, have become so risky that trainees fear to specialise. And everyone hates lawyers!
Reform
The politicians are at last taking action. Recently the House of Representatives passed a bill, the Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act, which places a ceiling on punitive damages in civil law suits and "pain and suffering" settlements in medical malpractice suits. There has also been a change in the conditions necessary to bring product liability cases. Now there must be a "conscious and flagrant" disregard to consumers' safety. Moreover, such a case must be brought within a time limit of up to 15 years after the product launch. The bill also includes the "British rule" which specifies that in some instances unsuccesful litigants should pay the winners' legal fees. It seems that the legal lottery will soon be over.
Reading for meaning
When you read an article, you can often guess the words you do not know from the context. Find the following words in the text and underline them, then write the whole sentence where they are used in the text in your notebook. Punitive. sue, litigants, scalded, deliberately, lousy, lawsuit, forfeits, ceiling, professional indemnity, risky, , flagrant damages Find words or expressions in the above article which have the following meanings:
a. institute legal procedings
b.
money paid to compensate for injury or loss
c.
burnt (by hot water)
d.
intentionally
e.
poor (inferior)
f.
a proceeding brought by one person against another
g.
gives up
h.
protection against claims from clients or patients for damages arising from one's professional actions
i.
dangerous
j.
an upper limit
k.
excessively severe
l.
very obvious
m. people who bring a lawsuit
Now try to write Defining Relative clauses using the words and phrases above
sue,damages,scalded,deliberately,lousy lawsuit forfeits profesional indemnity responsabilidad civil professional risky ceiling punitive,flagrant litigants
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