Topic Five (1.5): Family history

In this topic you will learn about ancestral journeys and how to use the relative pronouns which/that, who and whose in defining relative clauses.

Please work through the following sections in your coursebook, completing all listed exercises:

Page 28 – Make sure you understand the difference between a continent and a country. Look at the words in the Geography Key words box. Which are continents? Which are countries? Which is a point of the compass?
Page 28, Exercise 1 – The article ‘A remarkable journey’ tells you about a scientific way to find out more about a family history and how to trace where a person’s ancestors came from originally. Before you read ‘A Remarkable Journey’, skim through to see if there are any words in the article you don’t understand, highlight them and look up the dictionary definition. Read the article and answer the questions on page 29, Exercises 2a to d.
Page 29 – read the Use of English box. It explains when to use which/that, who and whose. Which/that, who and whose are relative pronouns. The key rule to remember is the following: which and that are used for things; whereas who and whose are used for people. Which/that, who and whose are used in defining relative clauses. Remember we use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses and relative clauses tell us more about people and things. There is further explanation in the Grammar section below.
Why is it a good idea to join sentences together with which/that, who and whose?
Page 29, Exercise 3 – Join the sentences together with which/that, who or whose.

Can you locate on a map all the countries that are mentioned in the reading text? You may want to refer to this interactive map:

Using books or the internet, can you make a rough estimate of the distances covered by Serena, Zak and Vikal’s ancestors in their journeys? How many kilometres did their ancestors travel before they reached their destination?

Examine the Use of English box carefully.
There are two types of clauses in English: definitive relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses. In this lesson we are looking at the use of defining relative clauses.
A defining relative clause adds important information to a sentence and cannot be left out. In the sentence below, if you take out the relative clause, it changes the meaning of the sentence:

I have a sister who likes chocolate.

Remember: Which/that are used for things. Who/whose are used for people.
You can learn more about how defining relative clauses are used here:

For additional practice on defining relative clauses, complete the worksheet. Remember to check your answers at the end.

If you would like to check your answers to the exercises in this topic, please consult this document here. The section with the answers is highlighted in yellow.