Jobs You Didn't Know Existed — Relative Clauses (B1 Grammar)

B1 - relative clauses

Strange Work

PICTURE

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"Something people need, which nobody wants to do themselves."

*who, which, that, where, whose* · leaving out the object pronoun · non-defining clauses and commas

Reading

Speaking

LEAD-IN

Which of these is a real job?

Guess with a partner, then your teacher reveals the answer.

a) A professional mourner.

b) An armpit sniffer.

c) A full-time queuer.

d) All three.

PICTURE

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BEFORE YOU READ

Three strange jobs

You are going to read about a sensory analyst, a professional queuer and a professional mourner.

READ ONCE AND ANSWER

PICTURE

1. Which of the three would you least like to do?

2. Why?

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READING

Jobs you didn't know existed

The nose. Rosa is a sensory analyst whose speciality is deodorant — which means, in plain language, that she smells armpits professionally. The laboratory where she works tests around sixty volunteers a week, and the products that pass her nose end up in supermarkets across Europe. "People laugh at parties," she says, "until they meet someone whose deodorant failed my test." Rosa, who trained as a chemist, insists the job is highly technical: a trained nose, which takes years to develop, can identify dozens of separate odour notes. The thing she can't do any more is share a lift comfortably.

The queuer. Milo stands in lines for a living. Concert tickets, product launches, popular restaurants, government offices — anywhere that has a queue which somebody rich would rather avoid. His record is thirty-one hours, which he spent outside a phone shop in the rain, and the customers who hire him include one client he's never met. "There's a man who books me every month for a restaurant that doesn't take reservations. The table I queue for is always for two. I have theories."

The mourner. And then there is Tomas, a professional mourner — a person families hire to attend funerals. It's an old tradition that still exists in several countries, and one which is quietly returning. Sometimes the person who died had outlived their friends; sometimes the family, whose relatives are scattered across the world, simply wants the room to feel less empty. Tomas, whose background is in theatre, doesn't fake tears. "I listen to the stories the family tells me, and by the service they're not strangers. The man I buried on Tuesday loved fishing and hated his brother-in-law. I mourned him honestly."

Strange work? Perhaps. But every job here exists for the same reason: something people need, which nobody wants to do themselves.

COMPREHENSION

Who is it — Rosa, Milo or Tomas?

1. Has a scientific education. ____________

2. Once worked for 31 hours without stopping. ____________

3. Learns about strangers from their families. ____________

4. Has a mysterious regular client. ____________

5. Trained in the theatre. ____________

6. Finds one everyday situation awkward because of the job. ____________

GRAMMAR FOCUS

Essential information, extra information

a) A sensory analyst whose speciality is deodorant.

b) The laboratory where she works tests sixty volunteers a week.

c) The products that pass her nose end up in supermarkets.

d) The table I queue for is always for two.

e) Rosa, who trained as a chemist, insists the job is technical.

f) A trained nose, which takes years to develop, identifies dozens of notes.

1. who = ________ , which = ________ , where = ________ , whose = ________ . Which pronoun replaces who and which in defining clauses?

2. In (d) a pronoun is missing: the table (____) I queue for. Can we leave it out when it is the subject, or only the object? Test it on (c).

3. In (e) and (f), cover the clause between the commas. Does the sentence still work? Is that information essential or extra?

4. Two things are forbidden in comma clauses: using ________ , and ________ the pronoun.

5. My sister who lives in Berlin is a doctor vs My sister, who lives in Berlin, is a doctor. In which one do I have more than one sister?

THE RULES

Complete the rules

• Defining clauses give ________ information: they tell you WHICH one. Use who / which / that / where / whose, and no commas. You can leave out who / which / that when it is the ________ of the clause.

• Non-defining clauses give ________ information, between ________ . You cannot use ________ , and you cannot leave the pronoun out.

• whose = "of who / of which" — it works for people and things.

CAREFUL

In speech, the commas are pauses. Say both versions aloud: My sister who lives in Berlin... / My sister, ... who lives in Berlin, ... — you can hear the difference.

PRACTICE

Complete with who, which, where, whose — or nothing, if the pronoun can be left out. Add commas where they are needed.

1. The volunteers ________ Rosa tests are paid in gift vouchers.

2. Milo ________ hates crowds ironically spends his life in them.

3. That's the restaurant ________ you can't book a table.

4. The client ________ identity remains a mystery pays in cash.

5. The funeral ________ Tomas attended on Tuesday was for a fisherman.

6. My cousin ________ has three jobs still says Milo's is the strangest.

7. It's a profession ________ requires no qualifications and infinite patience.

8. The article ________ I read this in didn't say how much they earn.

TASK

Invent-a-job

In pairs, invent a plausible strange job and write its three-sentence job advert.

• Use at least one defining clause: We're looking for a person who...

• Use at least one non-defining clause: The office, which..., is...

• Use whose: Candidates whose...

• Post the adverts around the room. Everyone applies for one — and explains why they are qualified.

PICTURE

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TEACHER'S REFERENCE · HIDE OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

LEAD-IN d — all three are real jobs.

COMPREHENSION 1 Rosa · 2 Milo · 3 Tomas · 4 Milo · 5 Tomas · 6 Rosa (sharing a lift)

GRAMMAR FOCUS 1 who = people, which = things and animals, where = places, whose = possession; that can replace who / which in defining clauses. 2 Only when it is the object (the table [that] I queue for); in (c) it is the subject (the products that pass), so it cannot go. 3 Yes, it still makes sense — the information is extra. 4 Using that; omitting the pronoun. 5 The first one — no commas means it distinguishes this sister from the others.

RULES essential · object · extra · commas · that

PRACTICE 1 — (or who / that): it is the object.

2 Milo, who hates crowds, ironically... (commas)

3 where

4 whose

5 — (or which / that): object

6 My cousin, who has three jobs, still says... (commas)

7 which / that — subject, so it cannot be left out

8 — (or which / that): object