Errors in the use of adjective / relative clauses

Read the sentence given below. It is taken from one of the essays I recently corrected. Can you identify the error in that sentence?

For example, if there is only one sports complex in a town of one million people which can accommodate only five hundred people, very few people can access that facility.

The problem with the above sentence is in the position of the relative (adjective) clause ‘which can accommodate only five hundred people’.

Just like adjectives, adjective clauses also modify nouns. Make sure that your adjective clauses go immediately after the nouns they modify. Here the adjective clause ‘which can accommodate only 500 people’ refers to the noun sports complex. It tells us something about the sports complex, so, it should go after that noun. However, the student placed it after another noun (people).

We can correct this sentence by moving the adjective clause to its right position.

For example, if there is only one sports complex that can accommodate just five hundred people in a town of one million people, very few people can access that facility.

Or better still:

For example, if a town of one million people has only one sports complex that can accommodate just 500 people, very few people will be able to access that facility.

Manjusha Nambiar

Hi, I'm Manjusha. This is my blog where I give IELTS preparation tips.

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