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I �m sorry that I didn �t say that you were correct. I got focused on trying to find an easy lesson, and then I was so tired that I went to bed. I hope everything works out! It sounds as if you have a lot of great people helping you.
Yes Carla they are doing their best although my specific questions are still not answered. I �m really waiting for that great teacher to help me understand what I posted above.
As for which of your students are correct, since they are just given the sentence "The man is over there" and they haven �t been told anything else about the man, I think the correct sentence is "The man who was looking for you is over there."
However, I would try to explain to my students the context in which the second sentence could be correct.
Hi everyone! A relative clause can be defining or non-defining depending on what you want to say. Not all defining relative clauses can become no-defining by adding commas, dashes or brackets. One should pay close attention to the use of commas, dashes or brackets in relative clauses. There �s a change in meaning in a relative clause with or without commas (It �s not just that one is defining lor non-defining) Let �s consider the following:
�The Importance Of Commas in Relative Clauses:
1.a. Tom�s brother, who lives in London, is an engineer.
1.b. Tom�s brother who lives in London is an engineer.
1.a. N.D.R.C.�Tom has only one brother.
1.b. D.R.C�Tom has more than one brother.
2.a. The boys, who wanted to play football, were disappointed.
2.b. The boys who wanted to play football were disappointed.
2.a. N.D.R.C.�All the boys wanted to play football and all were disappointed.
2.b. D.R.C.�Only some of the boys who wanted to play were
disappointed; There were others who didn�t mind whether it rained or not.
3.a. The wine, which was in the cellar, was all ruined.
3.b. The wine which was in the cellar was all ruined.
3.a. N.D.R.C.�All the wine was in the cellar and all ruined.
3.b. D.R.C.�Only some of the wine was ruined. Some was kept
elsewhere and escaped damage.
That �s really helpful. You have clarified most of it through simple nice sentences. Thank you a lot for your time and effort.
Now the last question.
Imagine I give my students an exercise on relative clauses, telling them to join two simple sentences in one complex sentence by means of a relative pronoun. (In the instruction, there is no indication that they should make a D.RC or a N.D.R.C)
Let �s consider your first example. The two simple sentences may be as follows:
Tom �s brother is an engineer. He lives in London.
Then some students would come up with a complex sentence like 1.a:
Tom �s brother, who lives in London, is an engineer.
Claiming that they chose to do so because they understood that Tom has only one brother.
While other students may come up with a complex sentence like 1.b:
Tom �s brother who lives in London is an engineer.
Claiming that they chose to do so because they understood that Tom has more than one brother. So, in this case, should I accept both of their answers as long as they justify their choice or just one of the answers above?
The problem is that in many sentences both ways can be possible and the sentences above may be a good example, since the two original simple sentences don �t tell us whether Tom has only one brother or more than one.
