by Craig Shrives This Page Includes...A non-restrictive clause is a clause that provides additional, non-essential information. In other words, a non-restrictive clause is not needed to identify the word it modifies, i.e., it's just bonus information. As a non-restrictive clause is not essential to the meaning of a sentence, it is offset with commas (or some other parenthetical punctuation such as dashes). Here is another example of a non-restrictive clause.
Here are some more examples of non-restrictive clauses:
Look at this example:
Test for a Non-restrictive ClauseIf you'd happily put it in parentheses (brackets) or delete it, use commas. The example above uses "who." Here's one with "which." There is a distinction between "who" and "which" because Brits are okay with a restrictive clause headed by "which," but, as a rule, Americans aren't.
Read more about your choices of punctuation for offsetting a non-restrictive clause.
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Next lesson > Nominal Relative ClausesNominal relative clauses are used as different parts of speeches and act as a noun or a noun phrase. Click here to learn more! Dependent ClausesDependent clauses are clauses that cannot form sentences on their own. In this lesson, we will learn all about dependent clauses. Independent ClausesIndependent clauses can stay alone and they are used as a whole meaningful sentence. In this lesson, we will learn about them. Participle ClausesTo get to know participle clauses, first of all, you have to be familiar with the concept of participles and clauses separately. If-clausesIf-clauses are used to express that the action of the main clause. There are three types of if-clauses. In this lesson, we will discuss them. That-clausesWe have two types of clauses in English that are introduced with 'that.' One kind is a noun clause. The other one is the restrictive relative clause. |