Page 34 - English Grammar - 8

The man who is on stage is the chairman of the school.
O
The dish that I ordered was delicious.
O
The reason why I came here today is not important.
O
I haven’t read the book which you were talking about.
O
In the above sentences, all the highlighted groups of words are defining relative clauses.

Rememberemember
R

Commas are not used to separate the defining relative clause from the rest of the sentence.

Non-defining Relative Clause

A non-defining relative clause is used to provide non-essential, but additional information.
Just like a defining relative clause, a non-defining relative clause also consists of a relative
pronoun, a verb, and a subject or object of a verb. For example:
Michael Jackson, whose middle name was Joseph, was called the ‘King of Pop’.
O
Steve’s mother, who lives in Scotland, has three grandchildren.
O
The heavy rain, which was unusual for the time of year, destroyed most of the plants
O
in my garden.
My uncle, who was born in Hong Kong, lived most of his life overseas.
O
In the above sentences, all the highlighted groups of words are non-defining relative clauses.

Rememberemember
R

Commas are used to separate the non-defining relative clause from the rest of the sentence.

Practice Time 4

Underline the relative clauses in these sentences and state whether they are defining or non-
defining.

1. The market which takes place every Sunday is the only place we can
buy fresh vegetables. __________________

2. My father, who is an army General, is presently posted at the Indo–Pak
Clauses 3. The Komodo dragon which is a native of Indonesia is rarely found in zoos.
Border.
__________________

__________________
4. The document, which came in a big brown envelope, was extremely
important to the case.
5. I have a collection of shells, which I have gathered from my various __________________
trips to the waterfront. __________________
6. This sweater that I am knitting should be completed by tomorrow. __________________

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