How to Identify and Use Relative Clauses

Khan Academy

This educational video provides a clear and engaging introduction to relative clauses, a specific type of dependent clause used to add descriptive detail to sentences. Through a conversational format between two narrators, the video breaks down the grammatical structure of relative clauses, explaining how they function within a sentence and how they are signaled by relative pronouns like "who," "that," and "which." The explanation moves from simple definitions to complex sentence analysis, using color-coded handwriting on a digital blackboard to visualize the concepts. The video explores several key grammar topics, including the difference between independent and dependent clauses, the role of relative pronouns, and how to identify clauses embedded within larger sentences. It uses relatable examples, such as a Harry Potter reference ("The boy who lived"), to illustrate how relative pronouns substitute for nouns. The narrators also demonstrate how to parse complex sentences by identifying the core subject and verb, separating the essential information from the descriptive relative clauses. For educators, this video is an excellent tool for teaching sentence structure and syntax. It helps demystify complex sentences for students, showing them how to identify the "extra" information provided by relative clauses versus the main action of a sentence. This skill is crucial for both reading comprehension and writing development. Teachers can use this video to introduce the concept of sentence combining, helping students upgrade their writing from simple sentences to more sophisticated, complex sentence structures.