Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Clauses
Grammar Rules Guide - Chapter 32
A modifying clause can be either restrictive or non-restrictive.
A restrictive modifying clause (or essential clause) is an adjective clause that is essential to the meaning of a sentence because it limits the thing it refers to. The meaning of the sentence would change if the clause were deleted. Because restrictive clauses are essential, they are not set off by commas.
A few examples are:
All students who do their work should pass easily.
The car that I want is out of my price range.
The gas company will discontinue our service unless we pay our bills by Friday.
A non-restrictive modifying clause (or nonessential clause) is anadjective clause that adds extra or nonessential information to asentence. The meaning of the sentence would not change were theclause omitted. Nonrestrictive modifying clauses are usually set offby commas.
Two examples are:
Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote "The Raven", is a great American poet.
Puerto Rico was a Spanish colony until 1898, when it was ceded to the United States.
To help decide whether a clause is restrictive or nonrestrictive,think of pairs of commas as handles. If you can lift out theinformation between the commas and the sentence still makes sense,then it is a nonrestrictive clause, and the commas are necessary. Ifyou lift out the information and the meaning of the main clausechanges, the information is a restrictive clause, and no commas areneeded.
Grammar Rules Guide Index
Active and Passive Voice - Chapter 1
Adjective, Adverb, and Noun Clauses - Chapter 2
Adjectives - Chapter 3
Adverbs - Chapter 4
Appositives - Chapter 5
Auxiliary Verbs - Chapter 6
Common and Proper Nouns - Chapter 7
Comparatives and Superlatives - Chapter 8
Complements - Chapter 9
Conjunctions - Chapter 10
Conjunctive Adverbs - Chapter 11
Dangling Modifiers - Chapter 12
Direct and Indirect Objects - Chapter 13
Fused Sentences, Run-Ons, and Comma Splices - Chapter 14
Homophones - Chapter 15
Independent and Dependent Clauses - Chapter 16
Interjections - Chapter 17
Mass and Count Nouns - Chapter 18
Misplaced Modifiers - Chapter 19
Noun and Pronoun Case - Chapter 20
Noun and Verb Phrases - Chapter 21
Nouns - Chapter 22
Parallelism - Chapter 23
Perfect and Progressive Verb Forms - Chapter 24
Prepositional Phrases - Chapter 25
Prepositions - Chapter 26
Principal Parts of Verbs - Chapter 27
Pronoun and Antecedent Agreement - Chapter 28
Pronouns - Chapter 29
Regular and Irregular Verbs - Chapter 30
Relative Clauses - Chapter 31
Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Clauses - Chapter 32
Sentence Fragments - Chapter 33
Sentence Types - Chapter 34
Subjects and Predicates - Chapter 35
Verb Mood - Chapter 36
Verbals and Verbal Phrases - Chapter 37
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