Intermediate Lesson 2 -
Jesus the Good Shepherd
Grammar Exercise
This is the fifth part of Intermediate Lesson 2, or you can do it as an individual grammar lesson. In this lesson, we’re going to talk about relative clauses, parts of a sentence that give us extra information about something.
Remember that a group of sheep is called a “flock?” The word “flock” in this use is called a “collective noun.” We’ll also talk a little bit about “collective nouns,” and give you lots of great examples. Let’s get started!
Relative Clauses
Relative clauses provide important information about someone or something. Since they describe nouns, they are sometimes called adjective clauses. A relative clause usually comes after the noun it modifies, and it uses a pronoun like that and who at the beginning. You can think of a sentence containing a relative clause as a combination of two sentences.
Here is a sentence from the passage:
1. I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen.
(The relative clause is in orange.)
Sentence 1 is made up of two sentences:
2. I have other sheep
3. The other sheep are not in this sheep pen.
The subject of Sentence (3) repeats the words other sheep, and they are replaced with the pronoun that in Sentence (1).
When the description is about a person, the pronoun who is often used as in Sentence (4), also taken from the passage:
4. All who come in through me will be saved.
Sentence 4 is made up of two sentences.
5. All will be saved.
6. All (the people) come in through me.
The subject in sentence (5) implies “people,” but it does not provide enough information on its own. The relative clause who come in through me describes the subject all (the people) more clearly.
Here are a few more examples. The relative clause is in orange in each sentence.
7. Jesus is the good shepherd who is willing to give up his life for his sheep.
8. The teacher who teaches English with the Bible is very nice.
9. Those who work hard will succeed.
Sentences that begin with or contain “all who…” and “those who…” are very common, and they usually refer to people.
There are other types of relative clauses. In this section, you saw examples of relative clauses that describe the subject.
Collective Nouns
A collective noun refers to a collection or group of people, animals, or things that function as one unit.
Here is an example from the passage:
10 Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.
There are many sheep on one flock. We do not know exactly how many, but the exact number is not important.
We often use collective nouns such as:
- a crowd of people
- a group of children
- a team of workers
- a flock of birds
- a herd of cattle
- a pack of wolves
- a swarm of bees
- a bunch of flowers
- a stack of books
- a multitude of sins
There are many more. In general, a collective noun is treated as singular and paired with a singular verb.
11. There was a large crowd of people that followed Jesus.
(Notice the relative clause in this sentence – “that followed Jesus”
12. A flock of geese is flying south.
In Sentence (12), the geese are acting together, as a single unit.
You can find huge lists of collective nouns on the Internet. Some are more commonly used than others. Don’t worry too much, though. As you develop your English skills, you will learn which collective nouns are used more often.
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