Plot summaries add the relative clauses

The Blair Witch Project

Which of the three plot summaries do you like best? Is there anything missing from any of them?

Text one

Three college students go away for a weekend to make a documentary about the myth of the Blair Witch. They interview Birkettsville residents and collect different accounts of the Blair Witch. Eventually they go into the woods themselves armed with a map, a tent and a couple of camcorders. After spending a night in the woods, the next day they all report hearing strange things during the previous night but put it down to animals etc. As the day progresses they find strange objects hanging in the trees, and weird rock formations. They eventually lose the map and are lost so set up camp again. Eventually after many strange, unnerving goings on, one of the three disappears. Eventually after scaring themselves shitless they come across a house which appears to be derelict, on going inside looking for the lost group member, they discover children’s hand prints all over. After realising they are not alone they get killed and the footage of their weekend is found a year later.

Text two

Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonardset set out to shoot a documentary about a local legend. In the forests near Burkittsville, Maryland, many children vanished in the 1940s and people still avoid going too deep into the woods. The party sets out to look for facts that prove the legend, equipped only with two cameras and a little hiking gear. First, they find little piles of stones. Later, they have to admit to being lost in the woods. Eerie sounds at night and more piles of stones in places cause the already desperate group to panic. One night, days after they should have been back home, Josh disappears completely. Only what has been recorded and filmed with the cameras is found a year later and shows what happened in the woods.

Text three

In October of 1994, three student filmmakers hike out to the woods of Blair, hoping to find evidence of a local legend “The Blair Witch”. At first, they find nothing except a pile of stones. As the sun goes down they realize they are lost, but there is little panic. They camp out, and in the middle of the night they see and hear things. When they wake up, they find wooden dolls. Then one of the students is separated from the group. The other two finally realize that they are in a very serious situation, and that they are being stalked- stalked by something

Try to add the missing relative clauses to the texts. Do the finished versions change your mind about which is best?

Text one

Three college students go away for a weekend to make a documentary about the myth of the Blair Witch. They interview Birkettsville residents and collect different accounts of the Blair Witch. Eventually they go into the woods themselves armed with a map, a tent and a couple of camcorders. After spending a night in the woods, the next day they all report hearing strange things during the previous night but put it down to animals etc. As the day progresses they find strange objects hanging in the trees, and weird rock formations. They eventually lose the map and are lost so set up camp again. Eventually after many strange, unnerving goings on, one of the three disappears. Eventually after scaring themselves shitless they come across a house which appears to be derelict. On going inside looking for the lost group member, they discover children’s hand prints all over. After realising they are not alone they get killed and the footage of their weekend is found a year later.

, which haunts some woods in Birkettsville and supposedly killed children many years ago

, on which all the action is filmed

,which is the film you have just watched or are about to watch,

Text two

Heather Donahue, Michael Williams and Joshua Leonardset set out to shoot a documentary about a local legend. In the forests near Burkittsville, Maryland, many children vanished in the 1940s and people still avoid going too deep into the woods. The party sets out to look for facts that prove the legend, equipped only with two cameras and a little hiking gear. First, they find little piles of stone. Later, they have to admit to be lost in the woods. Eerie sounds at night and more piles of stones in places cause the already desperate group to panic. One night, days after they should have been back home, Josh disappears completely. Only what has been recorded and filmed with the cameras is found a year later and shows what happened in the woods.

who is called the Blair Witch

, who are student filmmakers,

where they have not been before

that must have been arranged artificially

Text three

In October of 1994, three student filmmakers hike out to the woods of Blair, hoping to find evidence of a local legend “The Blair Witch”. At first, they find nothing except a pile of stones. As the sun goes down they realize they are lost, but there is little panic. They camp out, and in the middle of the night they see and hear things. When they wake up, they find wooden dolls. Then one of the students is separated from the group. The other two finally realize that they are in a very serious situation, and that they are being stalked- stalked by something

that have been arranged by hand

that are not normal

that are in cross-like formations and were not there the previous night

, whose name is Josh,

that may be the very thing that they were looking for…

Titanic

Add defining and non-defining relative clauses to the text below to make it better

After winning a trip on the RMS Titanic during a dockside card game, American Jack Dawson spots the society girl Rose DeWitt Bukater. Rose feels helplessly trapped by the situation and makes her way to the aft deck and thinks of suicide until she is rescued by Jack. Cal is therefore obliged to invite Jack to dine at their first-class table. In return, he spirits Rose off to third class for an evening of dancing. Deciding to forsake her intended future all together, Rose asks Jack to draw her in the nude wearing the invaluable blue diamond. Cal finds out and has Jack locked away. Soon afterwards, the ship hits an iceberg and Rose must find Jack while both must run from Cal even as the ship sinks deeper into the freezing water.

Compare your version with another group’s. Could you add any of their relative clauses to yours?

Compare your ideas with the original relative clauses on the next page (yours may well be better than the original).

that is the time of her life

that she is in

, who is on her way to Philadelphia to marry her rich snob fiancé Cal Hockley

, who has made his living making sketches on the streets of Paris,

, where he suffers through the slights of his snobbish hosts

that Cal has given her

Homework

Write a review of another film. As well as the plot summary (being careful not to give away too much of the plot!), you may wish to avoid:

– The actors, director etc and their other work

– Why it is a famous, important or successful film

– Other stories about the film, e.g. problems during filming

– Awards it has won

– Your opinion of it and why/ Good and bad points

– Who might like (or maybe hate) that film

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Related pages

Relative clauses page

Writing reviews page