Search results
Defining relative clauses. We use defining relative clauses to give essential information about someone or something – information that we need in order to understand what or who is being referred to. A defining relative clause usually comes immediately after the noun it describes.
- English (US)
Relative clauses: defining and non-defining - English...
- English Grammar Today
Relative clauses: defining and non-defining - English...
- English (US)
Mar 4, 2022 · If you haven’t already guessed, nondefining clauses do not define nouns. But what do they do? Nondefining relative clauses provide supplementary information. However, the information is not key to the meaning of the sentence. In fact, the sentence would still make sense if you removed the nondefining clause.
Grammar explanation. Relative clauses give us information about the person or thing mentioned. Non-defining relative clauses give us extra information about someone or something. It isn't essential for understanding who or what we are talking about. My grandfather, who's 87, goes swimming every day.
- What Are Clauses?
- What Are Defining Clauses?
- What Are Non-Defining Clauses?
- Defining vs. Non-Defining Clauses
- Relative Pronouns
- In Text
- In Speech
At its most basic, a clause is a grammatical unit that contains a subject and a verb. Clauses differ from sentences(which always contain at least one clause but usually contain more) and phrases (which do not have both a subject and a verb).
A defining clause, sometimes called a restrictive clause, gives essential information that defines or identifies the person, place, or thing being referred to. Without this information, we’d struggle to understand the sentence’s meaning.
A non-defining clause (non-restrictive clause) provides additional information about someone, somewhere, or something, but this information is unnecessary for the sentence to make sense. If the clause is removed, the sentence would still be grammatically correct, and the meaning wouldn’t change much, although we’d have less detail.
So, defining clauses contain vital information, and non-defining clauses addnon-essential information. Let’s compare the two.
A relative pronoun is a type of pronoun that marks a relative clause. The most common relative pronouns are that, which, when, who, whose, and where. These pronouns change depending on what you’re talking about and whether you are referring to the subject, the object, or the possessive. Non-defining clauses never use that. Examples: We can sometime...
You will probably have already noticed that non-defining clauses are separated from the rest of the sentence bycommasbecause they don’t contain essential information. Defining clauses don’t need commas.
Defining clauses in speech often use that instead of who, so “the people who spoke no English got lost in London” would become “the people that spoke no English got lost in London” in speech. This doesn’t happen for non-defining clauses because they don’t use “that.” In non-defining clauses, we usually pause before and after the non-defining clause...
Non-defining relative clauses, also known as non-restrictive relative clauses, provide additional information that is not essential to the understanding of the sentence. This information, if removed, does not alter the main message of the sentence because it is merely additional data.
Defining vs non-defining relative clauses. In a defining relative clause, the information is essential to identify who or what we are talking about, whereas in non-defining relative clauses, we just add extra information, which is not necessary. Compare: My brother who lives in Cardiff is much older than me.
A non-defining (non-restrictive) clause is one that can be regarded as parenthetical: My house, which has a blue door, needs painting. The italicized words are effectively an aside and could be deleted. The real point of the sentence is that the house needs painting; the blue door is incidental.
