To explore relative clauses

Key Stage 2

English

How to Train your Dragon - Mixed outcomes

English grammar

T1: Sentence level objectives

﻿Hi everyone, it's Miss van Vliet here, and I am going to teach you today's grammar lesson. I'm very excited. I know that you are doing a unit on How to Train your Dragon, or if you're just doing the grammar lesson, that's absolutely fine as well. In today's grammar lesson, we're going to explore relative clauses and we're going to stick with the theme of dragons, but we do not need to have it done the rest of the unit so don't worry. So when you are ready, let's get going. So our learning objective for today is to explore relative clauses. So in this lesson, you'll need exercise book or paper, a pen or a pencil, and, of course, you need your brain, especially your grammar brains, so turn that one on. If you need to go and get any of these items, do that now and pause the video. So you should have everything ready in front of you ready for today's lesson. So our agenda. So what we're going to do today is we're going to recap sentence types. We're going to then identify some relative clauses. You're going to use some relative clauses, and then you've got an independent task. So let's recap sentence types. What is a simple sentence? The image there should give it away. What is a simple sentence, tell me. Yes, a simple sentence is a sentence that has one main clause. A simple sentence is a sentence that has one main clause, your turn. And what is really important about a clause? A clause must contain a... A clause must contain a verb and a verb is a doing or a being word. If you do it or you are it, then the word is a verb. So remember, a clause has to have a verb, and a simple sentence is a sentence with just one main clause. We've got one Mr. Main. So now what is a compound sentence? The image is there. A compound sentence, it has? Yes, it has a main clause and a main clause, and they are joined with... What do we call those conjunctions? They are coordinating conjunctions. So we've got a main clause and a main clause joined by a coordinating conjunction, which makes a compound sentence, your turn. Let me say that one more time. A main clause and a main clause joined with a coordinating conjunction is a compound sentence. And we have two Mr. Main. There's two for the two main clauses. Of course, the clause must contain a verb, otherwise it wouldn't make sense. Can you remember the coordinating conjunctions that we looked at three in the previous lesson? And there's a little picture to help you. We call that a boa and it's a boa, so we have but, or, and. But, or, and, your turn. But, or, and. Say it in whisper voice. But, or, and. And can you say it in grumpy voice. But, or, and. And say it in a sizzling snake voice. Buts, or, and. Good, that will help you remember the three coordinating conjunctions. And so we've got two main clauses joined by those conjunctions. Complex sentence, do you remember what a complex sentence is? Oh, the image is there. Yes, it is a main clause and a subordinate clause, and that gives us our complex sentence. Clause must contain a verb. So we know that our Mr. Main is a main clause with a verb and it makes sense on its own. Remember, our subordinate clause is our Mr. Subordinate and that's our helper. He doesn't make sense on its own. So a main clause is the main part of the sentence and makes sense on its own. A subordinate clause adds extra information to a sentence and does not make sense on its own. We'll have a look. Dragons have powerful wings so they can fly through the sky. As dragons are scared of humans, they only appear in the night. Do you see I've used a so and an as, and those are subordinating conjunctions. And in the first example, I've got my main clause at the front, dragons have powerful wings. But so they can fly through the sky is my subordinate clause. It doesn't make sense on its own. It needs to be connected to my main clause. And then in the second one, I've got as dragons are scared of humans, comma. Remember, if my subordinate clause comes first in my sentence, then I have to have a comma. So subordinate clause comma main clause. So as dragons are scared of humans, they only appear in the night. As dragons are scared of humans on its own like that. It could have that they only appear in the night as a main clause. And do you see that most my subordinate clauses have verbs? So fly and are both verbs in those subordinate clauses. So quick recap, main clause, simple sentence. Main clause and the main clause, compound sentence. Main clause and a subordinate clause, complex sentence. Subordinate clause and the main clause, complex sentence. So again, just take a snapshot image of that, put that in your brain, try and remember the three different types of sentences and the different ways you make them. Do you remember some of the subordinating conjunctions? As, when, because, if, since, although, while, whilst, even though. That's not all of them, but those are some of them so just remember that those all make our complex sentences. Now we're going to move on and we're going to identify relative clauses. So that was a recap of different sentence types and it's good to always review that learning, but today we're going to look at relative clauses, relative clauses. So a relative clause is a special type of subordinate clause. It modifies a noun or a clause. A relative clause starts with a relative pronoun. So who, which. A relative clause is always positioned in the middle or at the end of a sentence. So we've got a relative clause is a type of subordinate clause. It has a relative pronoun and it's at the middle or the end of a sentence. So let's have a look at an example. Dragons, comma, which are mythical creatures, comma, are often portrayed as deadly animals in books and films. Can you identify the relative clause in that sentence? Point to it on the screen. In three, two, one. Yes, well done, it's which are mythical creatures. And do you see that they are separated by two commas because it's in the middle of my main clause. I've added in, I've modified the noun, I've added in information about dragons. And it's a bit like a sandwich or a hamburger or a veggie burger. And it's a main clause and in that, we've added our relative clause. And so he could take it out and just have... So we could take the whole medicals out and have dragons are often portrayed as deadly animals in books and films. Instead, we've added that in and we've put dragons, which are mythical creatures, and we of course separate it by two commas. We separate it by two commas. Really important that you have those commas. Well, let's look at another example. The dragon has razor sharp claws comma, which he uses to seize its prey. Where is my relative clause now? Can you identify in the sentence? Can you point to it? Point to it in three, two, one, good. Now where in my sentence is it? Is it like the previous example like hamburger in the middle of my sentence? Was it at the end? Tell me, yes, it's at the end of the sentence. And again, this time we could just take it out and we could just have the dragon has razor sharp claws, but we use the which he uses to seize the spray. The which he uses to seize the spray the relative clause is modifying the noun clause. That's quite tricky, claws and clause. A nice homophone there, but it's the which he uses to seize the spray and is the clause that's modifying the noun clause. Here's another example. The dragon comma who was slammed by Astrid was feared by everyone and slay means to be killed. So the dragon who was slain by Astrid was feared by everyone. Where is the relative clause in this sentence? And what could we do? Can you, first of all, find it for me. So point to it in three, two, one, where is it? Well done, he was laying by Astrid and can you point to the commas on either side, go point to it, go to the first one and go. Point to the second one and go. So do you see that my relative clause is separated by two commas. And I could take it all away and I could have the dragon was feared by everyone. And again here, the relative clause is in the middle of my sentence. So relative pronouns. We've got who, and we've got which that you need to worry about today. Who is for people and which is for places and things. Who is for people, which is for places and things. Who is for people, which is for places and things. So let's use a relative clause complex sentence. So Hiccup is kind to every animal. Now Hiccup is the character in How to Train your Dragon. And all I'd like you to do is to think of a relative clause that we could add in to that sentence there. So have some thinking time. Maybe you can tell the screen or tell me through the screen. Maybe there's someone next to you that you could tell. Maybe you just want to write it down. Maybe you just want to say it in your head, just think of it, but really think of an example. Got that, let's try another one. What about this one? The Isle of Berk has many mountainous peaks. The Isle of Berk is the made up town in Scandinavia, but it doesn't matter. We can just think of it as a island up north. I want you to think of a relative clause in there. Remember, who is for people and which is for places and things. So what relative pronoun are you going to use in those two examples? So pause if you need to and come up with two relative clauses. So you should have two ideas in your head. Now I'm going to share what I came up with. So I thought Hiccup, who is a dragon trainer, is kind to every animal. And do you see that I have put who, because I'm talking about Hiccup and Hiccup is a name of a character of a person. And do you see, I've separated my relative clause with two commas. And then the next example I came up with, the Isle of Burke, which is in Scandinavia comma has many mountainous peaks. It's not actually, this is a bit of a lie, but we're pretending it is because that's where How to Train your Dragon is set. And again, this time, my relative pronoun is which, well done if you said that, and which is because I'm talking about the Isle of Berk and that is a place. Again, I squished it in the middle and I've used those two commas to separate my relative clause and the relative clause is of course talking about the noun right in front of it. I always remember that who is for people and which is for places and things. So for your independent task, love you to write three who, which relative clause complex sentences about dragons. There's a picture there of the dragon that you can use. You might not want to. And just remember that if you're putting it in the middle, you need your main clause, comma, subordinate clause, comma main clause, and then your full stop. If you're putting it at the end, then it's main clause, comma, relative clause, full stop. Remember the relative pronouns, they are... Yes, who and which and who is for people and which is for places and things. So pause the video and write three complex sentences on your piece of paper. So you should have finished writing your three sentences with those who, which relative clauses. So can you just get a pen ready in your hand cause you're just going to tick your sentence. I'm going to show you my example sentences, and then you can tick if you've got the same things correct. So Astrid looked up at the fearsome dragon, which had smoke emerging from its nostrils. So can you just tick if you've got a capital letter for the start of your sentence, always important. Then you can see that my relative clause at the end of my sentence so just tick if you've got the same if your relative clause comes the end, that you have a comma after your main clause and that you have the relative pronoun, make sure it's the right one. So who for people and which is for places and things. And then make sure that you have got a full stop at the end of your sentence and give yourself a tick for that as well. So just check your sentence. If you have one that is at the end where you... Sorry, when you have a sentence which has a relative clause at the end, if you have one that is in the middle, let's have a look at my example, and then you can tick along. So give yourself a tick if you've got a capital letter. Then give yourself a tick for a comma before a relative clause, give yourself a tick for your relative pronoun. Then give yourself another tick for the comma at the end of the clause and then a tick for the full stop. So my sentence is Astrid who looked up into the bloodshot eyes of a fearsome dragon was terror-stricken. So just check that you have got all of those ticks. So do that you got all of those things in your writing in three sentences. So just check that now. You might want to pause the video and tick along as well. So well done in today's lesson. We have recapped sentence types. We've identified relative clauses. We've used relative clauses and you've done an independent task. So fantastic work and this is now the end of the lesson. Of course, go and tell everyone about relative clauses and tell them how much you know about them. So well done for another great grammar lesson. Hope to see you all soon, bye.

To explore relative clauses

To explore relative clauses

Slide deck

Lesson details

Key learning points

Licence

Video

Lesson appears in

UnitEnglish / How to Train your Dragon - Mixed outcomes

English

UnitEnglish grammar / T1: Sentence level objectives

English grammar