Reduced Relative Clauses (Participles)

Level: B2. Good writers often trim a relative clause down to a single participle. Instead of “the woman who is standing by the door”, they write “the woman standing by the door”. This lesson shows exactly when you can do that and which participle to pick.

The rule

A relative clause adds information about a noun: “the man who is waiting outside”. The words who, which and that are relative pronouns. A participle is a verb form used like an adjective: the -ing form (waiting, running) and the past participle (sent, broken, written — the third form of a verb).

You can reduce a defining relative clause — make it shorter — when the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause. You drop the pronoun and the verb be, and keep a participle:

• Active, usually a continuous verb: the man who is waiting → the man waiting.
• Passive: the parcel which was sent → the parcel sent.
• With be + adjective or phrase: the people who are responsible → the people responsible; the book which is on the table → the book on the table.

Even when there is no be in the clause, an active verb can become an -ing participle: people who live here → people living here; the train that leaves at six → the train leaving at six. A past participle on its own always carries a passive meaning: the letters written in French = the letters that were written in French.

Forms

Example sentences

Common mistakes

• ❌ The man sat there is my uncle. → ✅ The man sitting there is my uncle. An active meaning needs the -ing form, not the past form.
• ❌ A letter writing in English arrived. → ✅ A letter written in English arrived. A letter does not write; it is written, so use the past participle (passive).
• ❌ The money stealed was never found. → ✅ The money stolen was never found. Use the real past participle (stolen), not a made-up -ed form.
• ❌ The book reading by everyone is great. → ✅ The book everyone is reading is great. The pronoun is the object here, so you cannot use a participle.
• ❌ People live here pay more. → ✅ People living here pay more. Reducing an active verb still needs the -ing participle, not the bare verb.
• ❌ The woman who standing there called you. → ✅ The woman standing there called you. When you reduce, drop the pronoun and be together; do not keep who.

A short conversation

A: Who’s the guy standing near the exit? B: The one wearing the grey coat? That’s the engineer sent from head office. A: And the files left on my desk — are they the ones requested by the auditor? B: Yes. Anything marked urgent should go to her first.

Usage notes

• Defining clauses only. Reduction works with defining (identifying) clauses. Non-defining clauses between commas are not usually reduced to a plain participle in the same way: “My father, who is a doctor, retired” stays as it is.
• -ing for active, including states. The -ing participle can replace a simple active verb, not just a continuous one: “students studying medicine” = students who study medicine.
• Keep the time with an adverb. The participle itself has no tense, so add a time word when it matters: “the parcel sent yesterday”, “guests arriving tonight”.
• Position. A one-word participle can come before the noun (“a barking dog”), but a participle with its own words comes after the noun (“a dog barking at the postman”).

Compared with…

• Full defining relative clauses keep who/which/that and a finite verb: “the man who is waiting”. Reduce them only for a tighter style; the meaning is the same. See Defining Relative Clauses (who, which, that).
• Non-defining relative clauses add extra, non-essential information inside commas: “My car, which is ten years old, still runs.” These are normally left in full, not reduced to a bare participle. See Non-defining Relative Clauses.

Quick recap before you practise.

Practice

Quiz

Recap cheat-sheet

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