Reducing Relative Clauses

Reduced relative clauses in English are a way of shortening or omitting certain parts of a relative clause while still maintaining the same meaning. A relative clause is a type of dependent clause that provides additional information about a noun. It usually starts with a relative pronoun like "who," "whom," "whose," "which," or "that."

In a reduced relative clause, these relative pronouns and other unnecessary elements are omitted. Instead, a participle verb form (often ending in "-ing" or "-ed") or an infinitive verb form is used.

Here's an example to illustrate the concept:

Original relative clause: "The woman who is standing there is my neighbor."

Reduced relative clause: "The woman standing there is my neighbor."

In this case, the original sentence uses the relative pronoun "who" and includes the verb "is." However, in the reduced form, the relative pronoun "who" and the verb "is" are omitted, and the participle verb form "standing" is used instead.

Reduced relative clauses are commonly used in spoken and informal written English to make sentences shorter and less cumbersome. However, it's important to note that they may sound less formal or official compared to the full relatives clauses.