Joining two sentences

[onetwothree]

Hello. I have a small problem with a sentences-joining exercise.
Please help me. Thank you.
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Join the two sentences below keeping the same meaning.

A man got on the bus. He was carrying a lot of money in a box.
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My answer is:
The man who was carrying a lot of money got on the bus.

But my teacher's answer is:
A man, who was carrying a lot of money, got on the bus.

===============
Could you tell me which answer is correct? Or, if both of them are, which one is more common in English?

[BobK]

Hello! I have a small problem with sentences-joining exercise. Please help me. Thank you.

========================
Join the two sentences below , keeping the same meaning.

A man got on the bus. He was carrying a lot of money.

======================
My answer is: The man who was carrying a lot of money got on the bus
But my teacher’s answer is: A man, who was carrying a lot of money, got on the bus.


So could you tell me which answer is correct? Or if both of them are, then which one is more commonly used?
Thanks again.

It's not a question of either being 'more commonly used'; they're both used, but the different syntax conveys different meanings.

Yours uses a 'defining relative clause': "The man who was carrying a lot of money got on the bus [ but the man with nothing to carry walked]"

Your teacher's uses a 'non-defining relative clause'. The bit marked off by commas just gives extra information about the subject of the sentence "A man got on the bus".

b

[Clark]

Since you were required to join the given sentences without changing their meaning, I think your teacher's variant is the right one, because in your interpretation the noun 'man' has the definite article which describes him as known before he got on the bus, and that contradicts the content of the original sentences.

[onetwothree]

So if the exercise were given in a test, would my answer marked as correct?

[BobK]

So if the exercise were given in a test, would my answer marked as correct?

That would depend on the marker, the strictness of the marking criteria, and the thing that was being tested for. Yours is grammatical, but you changed 'A' to 'The'. (But even with 'A' a defining relative clause is possible, so your teacher's wording is not the only possible option.)

b

[calinative]

I think your teacher is correct because the phrase "who was carrying a lot of money" is a complete phrase (subject + verb) and needs to be surrounded by commas inside of the other sentence.

[BobK]

I think your teacher is correct because the phrase "who was carrying a lot of money" is a complete phrase (subject + verb) and needs to be surrounded by commas inside of the other sentence.

The teacher is correct, but his is not the only possible correct answer, as your 'rule' doesn't hold. The clause 'who was carrying a lot of money' could be a defining relative clause, and in that case it would have no commas:

This is perfectly OK: "The man who was carrying a lot of money got on the bus". And as it is a defining relative clause, the definite article is a better reflection of the original two sentences (although the first of those had the subject "A man" - the man starts out as indefinite, but the relative clause defines him; so in the joined sentence, "A" -> "The".) The 'joined' versions in the OP are equally good; it is just a question of how one interprets the instruction "join". The teacher's version joins them but keeps them separate: a man got on the bus, and by the way he was carrying a lot of money; onetwothree's version joins them more intimately - the use of a defining relative clause suggests the change from "A" to "The".

b

[Clark]

How about this:

A man got on the bus, carrying a lot of money.

[BobK]

b