Unit 3b Book

1. Introduction

Brakes are one of the most important parts of a car. However, if normal brakes are applied in an emergency on a slippery road, the car wheels may lock and the vehicle may skid, i.e. slide uncontrollably. That is why brakes are equipped with an anti-lock braking system, aka ABS. This system, which prevents wheels from locking, is going to be discussed in the unit.

Contents:

Defining and non-defining clauses and the present participle used for their reductions:

These cables allow electricity distribution over long distances. They have been installed. This will make the development project possible.

= Cables which allow electricity distribution over long distances have been installed, which will make the development project possible.

= Cables allowing electricity distribution over long distances have been installed, making the development project possible.

2. Warm-up: Listening

In the automobile industry, safety is crucial. On slippery surfaces, it is the ABS system that may help prevent accidents. First, study the diagram on p. 23 in your book (Bonamy, D. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Coursebook. Pearson Longman). Then watch the video and complete this listening task.

3. How ABS Works

After watching the warm-up video, you should have a basic idea about the function of ABS. Now, how does the ABS system work in detail? Do this reading task to find out. Then complete this revision.

4. Problems Associated with ABS

Look at p. 23 in your book again and skim the short texts A to E. Which of the texts…

1. describe customers´ complaints about the Primaro hybrid car?

2. give technical information about the Primaro braking system?

3. suggest the cause of the problem?

4. suggest a solution to the problem?

Now that you know what type of information can be found in each of the short texts, read all the texts in detail. Make notes (in the form of short bullet points) as you read, so that you can summarize the following four points:

1. problem

2. test results

3. technical background

4. possible solution

Once you have your notes, use these notes to prepare a short summary to be spoken. Record yourself talking about these four points. Remember that you should only use your notes to prepare your recording. Make sure not to look back at the original texts on p. 23. Your mp3 recording should not be longer than three minutes or exceed 40 MB. Submit your recording here.

5. Grammar: Relative Clauses

In the previous task, you could see that in fact no mechanical parts of the ABS system were faulty and only a simple software fix was enough to solve the problem. Grammatically, there are several ways to express what was done to find the problem:

Study the numbered boxes in the table above and try to answer the following questions: 

1. Why is there no comma in sentence 1?

2. Why are there commas in sentence 2?

3. Why is there a comma in sentence 3?

4. Which box refers to ABS only, i.e. to one word in the main clause?

5. Which box refers to tests only, i.e. to one word in the main clause?

6. Which box refers to the result of the testing process, i.e. to the whole clause describing the fact that the tests have been carried out successfully?

Here you can see short answers to the questions above:

1. This is because this clause is a defining clause. 

2. This is because this clause is a non-defining clause that gives extra information. 

3. This is because this clause is a non-defining clause that gives extra information. 

4. Sentence in box 2.

5. Sentence in box 1.

6. Sentence in box 3.

When studying the three relative clauses in the table above, you can see that sentences 2 and 3 have commas, while sentence 1 doesn´t. In English, some relative clauses have commas, but some do not, depending on their type: either a defining relative clause or non-defining relative clause. Make sure you are aware of these two basic types of relative clause by going through this document. You are not only going to read about commas used with relative clauses, but also have the opportunity to revise the rules of the use of the relative pronouns. After going through the grammar overview, practise the relative pronouns here and here. Then practise the use of commas in this task.

6. Grammar: Reduced Relative Clauses

There are two ways of categorizing relative clauses. The most common way is to distinguish between those called “defining” and those called “non-defining”, as discussed in Section 5 above. This distinction refers to the fact that defining relative clauses are necessary to identify/understand the noun they refer to, and non-defining relative clauses are not necessary to identify the noun, but give extra information about it.

Examples:

Defining (no commas): The man who wrote the book is going to speak. (the relative clause identifies which man)

Non-defining (commas): My father, who wrote the book, is going to speak. (the relative clause gives extra info because the subject – father – is already clearly identified)

These clauses usually immediately follow the noun they modify.

You learned about defining and non-defining relative clauses in Section 5 above. However, there is another way to distinguish between types of relative clauses: those that modify (refer to, identify) one noun (see line A in the table below) and those that refer to the entire preceding clause, i.e. the information that is in that clause (see line B in the table below). This section (Section 6) compares these two types of relative clauses and explains how they can be reduced by using the present participle (see the sentences in italics in the table below). You learned some basics about the use of the present participle (-ing form) of verbs in Unit 2b, but now you are going to study its use in the reductions of relative clauses in more detail. Study the table below carefully and then read this detailed explanation.

Now, let´s practise this grammar point to see if you understand it fully and can use it freely without hesitation. The table above gives an overview of types of sentences you are going to practise. In tasks A, B and C, you will practice the type illustrated in box 1 of the table. You can either do all the three tasks, or just some of them, depending on how much practice you need to be able to use this grammar point automatically. Task D is a combination of sentence types from boxes 1 and 2. Task E combines sentence types exemplified in all three boxes. In addition, the context in this task is technical, not general.

7. Forum: Various Ways of Saying the Same Thing

This forum will give you a chance to play with defining and non-defining relative clauses and their reductions. In this forum, you are going to have two tasks.

Task 1

Below, you can see a table containing pairs of sentences: a) and b). Notice that a) and b) have a slightly different meaning. In a), the second sentence refers to the subject of the first sentence. In b), the second sentence refers to the whole first sentence. Out of the three lines of the table, choose just two. How would you express the ideas of the original pairs of sentences in two other ways? You are expected to combine the two independent sentences in each line of the table by using relative clauses and reduced relative clauses. This means that in your post, you should write eight sentences altogether. If you are not sure what to write, you can first try this online task to help you.

Task 2

After writing your eight sentences, check the contribution of at least one fellow student for correctness. 

Forum

8. Writing: A Product Recall Notice

Now you should have all the necessary grammar and vocabulary to be able to write a product recall notice. Use your notes from Section 4 above to write it. Stick to the individual subheadings, i.e. The Problem, Test Results, Technical Background and A Possible Solution. After you finish, compare your recall notice with the key at the end of this Unit. See if you included all the main points in the model given in the key.

Task

9. Word List

The key terms related to the topic of Unit 3b can be found:

• in the Excel format here.
• in the interactive flash card format here. This format is particularly good for drilling the new vocabulary.
• in a zip file here. This file is downloadable, so that after unpacking it, you can drill the new vocabulary on your desktop, laptop or any other portable device where you have a browser installed. The recommended one is Mozilla Firefox. Important: after unzipping the zip file, make sure to keep all the related files in the same directory at all times. Do not change any file names and do not transfer or delete anything.

Recommendation: Remember that the best way to learn new vocabulary is to see each new word in a context; that is, seeing it in the contexts provided in the tasks you complete in the unit.

10. A printer-friendly version of Unit 3b

A printer-friendly version of Unit 3b exercises and the keys to these exercises can be found here.