Relative Clause Construction

Produce sentences with embedded relative clauses using who/that/which.

Use with a student — free
Card 1 of 12
The girl who won the race is my friend.
Say it out loud
This pass0 correct · 0 cued · 0 incorrect · 0/12
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Session summary (SOAP)

Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.

Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.

How to run it

Build them from two sentences. The girl is my friend plus the girl won the race becomes the girl who won the race is my friend, and doing the combining is how the structure becomes visible. Point out that the main verb comes after the clause — is my friend — since students who lose track of that produce sentences with no main verb at all. Twelve minutes covers the set.

Cueing ladder

Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.

  1. Step 1IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
  2. Step 2HintStress the part of the sentence that changes, or point to the word ending.Log as cued
  3. Step 3Sentence starterSay the first half of the sentence and let the student finish it.Log as cued
  4. Step 4ModelSay the correct form in the whole sentence; the student repeats it.Log as cued

Adjust it

Easier

Give a sentence starter every time, and do fewer cards.

Harder

Ask for a new sentence of the student's own with the same form, with no card to lean on.

Matching IEP goal

Given sentence cards, Student will produce complex sentences in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.

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About this activity

Twelve sentences with an embedded relative clause: The girl who won the race is my friend. The book that I read was great. The man who fixed my car is nice. The dog that barks lives next door. The song that's playing is my favorite. The boy who sits by me moved away. Embedding a clause inside a subject is the syntactic step where many students stall in both speech and writing.

What to listen for

Listen for the main clause surviving. The girl who won the race is a common incomplete production: the student builds the embedded clause and forgets to finish the sentence. Watch who against that — who for people and that for things is the convention, and students who have never had it stated use one for everything.

Carrying it home

Relative clauses are frequent in ordinary speech. Combining two facts about the same person into one sentence — the woman who lives next door is a nurse — is a model that costs nothing to supply.

What's in this activity

  • The girl who won the race is my friend.
  • The book that I read was great.
  • The house that we visited was huge.
  • The man who fixed my car is nice.
  • The dog that barks lives next door.
  • The cake that she baked was delicious.
  • The teacher who helped me is kind.
  • The movie that we watched was scary.
  • The bike that I want costs too much.
  • The song that's playing is my favorite.
  • The store that sells kites closed.
  • The boy who sits by me moved away.

Questions

What grades is this for?
Fourth through seventh, where complex sentences are expected in writing.
Is it free?
Yes, all twelve sentences play with no account.
My student starts the sentence and never finishes it. Why?
Because the embedded clause takes up the working memory the main verb needed. Building from two separate sentences usually fixes it, since the student can see what the main clause was supposed to be.

Use this board with your caseload

With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.

Track progress free

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