I can use participle and infinitive clauses correctly.
1 SPEAKING Work in pairs. Do you think space programmes, which cost millions, are a good way for governments to spend money? Give reasons.
LEARN THIS! Participle and infinitive clauses
a We use participle or infinitive clauses to give more -information about a noun. You can think of them as shortened relative clauses.
b Participle clauses can begin with a present participle (-ing form). The participle replaces an active verb of any tense, including stative verbs.
I saw a man wearing (= who was wearing) a space suit.
c Participle clauses can also begin with a past participle.
The participle replaces a passive verb of any tense. We lived in a large house, built (= which had been built) in the 17th century.
d Infinitive clauses begin with an infinitive which replaces an active or passive verb.
Mark became the first teenage runner to finish (= who finished) the city marathon. I still have a few jobs to do (= that have to be done) this afternoon.
2 Read Part 1 of the article. What happened to the spaceship? Rewrite the underlined participle or infinitive clauses as relative clauses.
which was launched from Florida on 11 April 1970.
→ Grammar Builder 8.2 page 127
3 Read part 2 of the article. Why is Apollo 13 mission described as a 'successful failure'? Rewrite the underlined clauses in part 2 as participle clauses.
1 ...fitted with its own oxygen tank...
4 Identify the relative clauses in these sentences. (Some contain more than one.) Rewrite them as participle or infinitive clauses.
1 The word astronaut, which is formed from two Greek words, means 'star sailor'.
2 Only flights which reach an altitude of 100 km or more are considered space flights.
3 NASA astronauts are given a difficult training programme which they have to complete after twenty months.
4 Astronauts who spend long periods in space do exercises which have been designed to keep them strong.
5 Spacecraft which intend to escape from Earth's gravity need to reach a speed of about 40,000 km/h.
6 The film Apollo 13, which was made in 1995, is a very interesting film on space travel that should be seen.
PART 1
Apollo 13, launched from Florida on 11 April 1970, was the third Apollo mission to land on the moon. The three astronauts chosen for the mission were James Lovell, Fred Haise and John Swigert. The launch, watched by millions on TV, went smoothly and for the first two days in space, everything went well. The crew gave a 49-minute TV interview explaining how they lived and worked in zero gravity. However, nine minutes after the interview finished, a tank containing oxygen exploded and John Swigert, noticing a red warning light, said the famous words: 'Houston, we've had a problem here. They checked all their equipment and realised that they were running out of water, power and oxygen - hard and fast. They were in a damaged spaceship floating 320,000 kilometres from Earth.
PART 2
The astronauts left the main part of the spaceship and went inside the lunar module, 1which had been fitted with its own oxygen tank. But inside the smaller module, 2which was designed to hold only two people, carbon dioxide levels started rising. The astronauts, 3who had been following instructions from the ground crew, made special filters out of plastic bags and cardboard. Then they waited in the cold and dark while the ground crew, 4 who were working 24 hours a day, tried to work out a way to bring them home. If some people in America were losing interest in the Space Program, the Apollo 13 crisis, 5which was discussed on all the TV news programmes, changed all that. The astronauts 'who were risking their lives and the people 7 who were trying to save them all became national heroes - especially when Apollo 13 returned safely to Earth with all three astronauts alive.
5 SPEAKING Discuss the questions with your partner. Use the nouns and adjectives below to help you.
Nouns adventure danger discomfort
excitement fear loneliness
Adjectives brave calm fit hard-working
intelligent logical serious
1 What personal qualities do astronauts need?
2 What would the best thing about the job be?
3 What would the hardest thing about the job be?
