RELATIVE CLAUSES
Relative clauses are non-essential
parts of a sentence. They may add meaning, but if they are removed, the
sentence will still function grammatically. There are two broad types of
relative clauses in English. It is important to distinguish between them because
it affects the choice of pronoun used to introduce the clause.
DEFINING CLAUSES
A defining or identifying
clause tells us which specific person or thing we are talking about in
a larger group of people or things. If a defining relative clause is removed,
the meaning of the sentence changes significantly. A defining relative clause
is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas or parentheses.
EXAMPLES
- The
woman who visited me in the hospital was very kind.
- The
umbrella that I bought last week is already broken.
- The man who
stole my backpack has been arrested.
- The
weather that we had this summer was beautiful.
NON-DEFINING CLAUSES
A non-defining or
non-essential clause gives us more information about the person or
thing we are talking about. If a non-defining relative clause is removed from a
sentence, we lose some detail, but the overall meaning of the sentence remains
the same. Non-defining relative clauses are always set off from the rest of the
sentence with commas or parentheses.
EXAMPLES
- The
farmer, whose name was Fred, sold us 10 pounds of potatoes.
- Elephants, which
are the largest land mammals, live in herds of 10 or more adults.
- The
author, who graduated from the same university I did, gave a
wonderful presentation.
- My mother, who is 86, lives in Paris.
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