Module 3: Health and Environment
Summary: Pollution, a Threat to Our Environment
Key points
- Pollution changes the environment in a negative way; it can be visible (oil spills) or invisible (particles).
- Waste never disappears: it goes to landfills.
- Oil spills ruin beaches and kill sea creatures.
- Burning waste releases particles that people inhale.
- Individuals and factories both have an impact on the environment.
Rules to remember
who
For people: The engineer who guided us works for an association.
which
For things and animals: The oil which covered the beach killed the birds.
that
For people OR things; it can replace who and which: the man that…, the bottle that…
Don’t repeat the pronoun
The fumes which were toxic — not which they were toxic.
How to do it
- Find the noun that is repeated in the two sentences.
- Replace the second one (he, she, it, they) with who / which / that.
- Put the relative clause just after the noun it describes.
Example
A landfill is a place which receives the waste of a whole town.
Common mistakes
- ❌ The man which cut the tree. ➡️ ✅ The man who cut the tree.
- ❌ The fumes which they were toxic. ➡️ ✅ The fumes which were toxic.
- ❌ “ch” is always /tʃ/. ➡️ ✅ beach /tʃ/, chemical /k/, machine /ʃ/.
Key words
Summary written by سكولار for quick revision: it does not replace the lesson and its exercises.