CLASS NOTES 4

Grammar in context: Invasion of privacy

1 What do you think Sydney means by "so-called friends"?

People who are not really true friends in real life

2 What is Lorraine referring to when she says "But I guess it's pretty harmless"?

Posting videos and details of your life is not dangerous

3 Why do you think Sydney uses the word bombard?

To emphasize the number and frequency of the ads that pop-up on your computer

4 Why are some websites a cause for concern, in Lorraine's opinion?

Grammar: Adding information to nouns

Noun phrases with a relative clause
You can add information to nouns with a relative clause.
• the guy who lives upstairs
• websites that are eager to make money
• ads that offer personal recommendatichis
• pop-up ads that are based on what you've just written

Noun phrases without relative clauses

You can add information to nouns with different types of expressions
• the guy upstairs
• websites eager to make money
• ads offering personal recommendations
• pop-up ads based on what you've just written

Noun phrases
You can use different types of expressions after a noun to add
information about it.
You can add an adverb or adverbial phrase
• You might not know anything about the guy upstairs or
someone next door
You can add a prepositional phrase.
• You can get to know about people on the other side of
the world.
people who live on the other side of the world
Noun phrases
Single adjectives usually go before nouns, but complex adjective phrases like this go after
the noun
• There are a lot of people happy to give away this information
people who are happy to)
You can add an active infinitive. An active infinitive is to + verb.
• Privacy is not an easy concept to define
A passive infinitive is to be + past participle. When you add a passive infinitive after a noun it has
a future meaning
• Next week, the subject to be discussed is privacy
(=the subject which will be discussed)

Noun phrases
You can add a present participle or -ing form.
. Online stores bombard you with ads offering personal recommendations
= ads that offer personal recommendations)
A past participle after a noun has a passive meaning
. There are applications programmed to monitor your messages.
(= applications that are programmed to monitor your messages)