[Grammar] What is the grammar name for these sentences?

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indonesia

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1. Did you see the cat lying on the roof?

2. Give the eraser to the man sitting down.

both sentences were originally relative clauses:
1. Did you see the cat that was lying on the roof?
2. Give the eraser to the man who is sitting down.

With the relative pronoun and the verb 'be' removed, what is the new name for these sentences/clauses?
And the participles 'lying' and 'sitting' as these now acting as adjectives?

Thx.
 

indonesia

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Are the above examples still referred to as relative clauses?

my grammar books tell me that you can only remove the object, but here we are talking about the subject + be.

Is this just another exception of our fine (though sometimes strange) language?
 

mara_ce

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Are the above examples still referred to as relative clauses?
Hi indonesia,

Yes, but they are called reduced relative clauses.
e.g.
The man who was driving the lorry was drunk.
The man driving the lorry was drunk.

When the verb in the relative clause is in the progressive aspect we can reduce the clause. The result is a present participial phrase, which is at the same time a non-finite reduced relative clause.
 

indonesia

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Thank you! :-D

Do you have any idea why most grammar books don't mention them?
I usually refer to 'English grammar in use' by Murphy and a few others, but they all seem to avoid the subject in question.
 

mara_ce

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Do you have any idea why most grammar books don't mention them?
I usually refer to 'English grammar in use' by Murphy and a few others, but they all seem to avoid the subject in question.

In my opinion, Murphy´s books do not mention them to avoid confusion, because they are for self study of elementary and intermediate learners.

Here is a list of books, I hope you find them useful.

related:ISBN0748617299 - Google Libros
 
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