jeudi 14 août 2014

Top Tips Grammar: Non-defining clauses

Main points

*You use non-defining relative clauses to give extra information about the person or thing you are talking about.
*Non-defining relative clause must be introduced by a relative pronoun such as ‘which’, ‘who’, ‘whom’, or ‘whose’.
* A non-defining relative clause comes immediately after a noun and needs a main clause to make a complete sentence.

 

a) You use non-defining relative clauses to give extra information about the person or thing you are talking about. The information is not needed to identify that person or thing.

- Professor Marvin, who was always early, was there already.

‘Who was always early’ gives extra information about Professor Marvin. This is a non-defining clause. Because it is not needed to identify the person you are talking about. We already know that you are talking about Professor Marvin.
Note that in written English, a non-defining relative clause is usually separated from the main clause by a comma, or by two commas.

- I went to the cinema with Mary, who I think you met.
- British Rail, which has launched an enquiry, said one coach was badly damaged.

 

b) You always start a non-defining relative clause with a relative pronoun. When you are talking about people, you use ‘who’. ‘Who’ can be the subject or object of a non-defining relative clause.

- Heath Robinson, who died in 1944, was a graphic artist and cartoonist.
- I was in the same group as Janice, who I like a lot.

In formal English, ‘whom’ is sometimes used instead of ‘who’ as the object of a non-defining relative clause.

- She was engaged to a sailor, whom she had met at Dartmouth.

 

c) When you are talking about things, you use ‘which’ as the subject or object of a non-defining relative clause.

- I am teaching at the Selly Oak centre, which is just over the road.
- He was a man of considerable inherited wealth, which he ultimately spent on his experiments.

Remember that you don’t normally use ‘that’ in non-defining relative clauses.

 

d) You can also use anon-defining relative clause beginning with ‘which’ to say something about the whole situation described in a main clause.

- I never met Brando again, which was a pity.
- She was a little tense, which was understandable.
- Small computers need only small amount of power, which means that they will run on small batteries.

 

e) When you are talking about a group of people or things and then want to say something about only some of them, you can use one of the following expressions:

many of which none of which one of which some of which
many of whom none of whom one of whom some of whom

- They were all friends, many of whom had known each other for years.
- He talked about several very interesting people, some of whom he was still in contact with.

 

f) You can use ‘when’ and ‘where’ in non-defining relative clauses after expressions of time or place.

- This happened in 1957, when I was still a baby.
- She has just come back from a holiday in Crete, where Alex and I went last year.

 

 

 

---------------------------------------------
Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
---------------------------------------------

 

See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs Common Slangs
Common misspellings Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors Frequently confused words
Common Slangs Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés Common Prepositions

 

No te olvides de compartir esto con tus amigos y compañeros, hagamos de este Blog una comunidad de difusión del Inglés como segundo idioma. Antes de irte deja tu comentario y haz clic en Me Gusta.

Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire