Non defining relative clause
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Here are the sentences joined using defining or non-defining relative clauses: 1. My girlfriend, who has taught me a lot, is a teacher. 2. The doctor who cured the Chief Executive of pneumonia is famous. 3. The man who runs 2 km every day is a fireman. 4. My father, who is very hardworking, is a merchant. 5. Jolie's boyfriend, who is so stupid, asked for help. 6. The boy who sings sweetly has a good voice. 7. Kelly Chan, who is a famous singer, is the woman.
Non defining relative clause
- 2. Defining Relative Clause • The boy is dandy. (Which one?) • The boy who likes blowing whistle is dandy. • If we don’t have the relative clause, we may not know which boy the speaker is talking about. Therefore, the underlined relative clause is ‘defining clause’.
- 3. Defining Relative Clause • We use defining relative clause to define which person or thing the speaker is referring to. • The clause is necessary. Otherwise, we may not be able to figure out which person or thing the speaker is talking about.
- 4. Defining or Non-defining? • Compare these two sentences The girl who has three brothers is my classmate. May, who has three brothers, is my classmate.
- 5. Defining or Non-defining? • What are the differences? 1. Different subject - ‘The girl’ vs. ‘May’ 2. The use of commas (,) in the second one
- 6. Defining or Non-defining? • In the second sentence, the relative clause gives extra information about the subject. May is my classmate. • Without the clause, we can still figure out who (May) the subject is. • Therefore, the first one is defining clause whereas the second one is non-defining clause.
- 7. Defining or Non-defining? • ‘May’ is a subject which is more explicit than ‘the girl’. • We usually use non-defining clause for more explicit subjects. For example: – Proper names (e.g. John, Mary, Sandy etc.) – Subject with possessive adjectives (e.g. my, her, his, their, our etc.) – Demonstrative pronouns (e.g. this, that, those etc.)
- 8. Exercise Time • Try to join the sentences by using defining or non-defining relative clause. 1. My girlfriend has taught me a lot. She is a teacher. 2. The doctor is famous. He cured the Chief Executive of pneumonia. 3. The man runs 2 km every day. He is a fireman.
- 9. 4. My father is very hardworking. He is a merchant. 5. Jolie's boyfriend asked for help. He is so stupid. 6. The boy sings sweetly. He has a good voice. 7. The woman is Kelly Chan. She is a famous singer.