2017-11-21 Grammar: defining/nondefining clauses

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Today: defining and non-defining clauses
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defining = identifying = restrictive: the clause identifies which nouns the sentence is about (it’s not about all of them)
My students who do their homework are very smart.
- Not all of my students do their homework. The ones who do their homework are smart, but this sentence isn’t about any of the ones who don’t do their homework.
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non-defining = non-identifying = non-restrictive: the clause gives extra information about the nouns, but is not necessary to identify which ones it’s about
My students, who do their homework, are very smart.
- All of my students are very smart and all of them do their homework.
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You can remove non-identifying information from the sentence, and it doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence.
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Practice (from Focus on Grammar 4 p. 231) - Combine the two sentences into one sentence with a relative clause. (Use the first sentence as the main clause and the second as the relative clause.)
1 That’s the house. I grew up in the house.
	That’s the house where I grew up. (“in the house” is the location)
	That’s the house in which I grew up. (“the house” is the object of “in”)
	That’s the house which I grew up in. (We can move the preposition in a short sentence.)
	That’s the house that I grew up in. (“that” is fine if it’s NOT after a preposition)
	That’s the house I grew up in. (“that” is optional when it’s not the subject)
2 I lived with my parents and siblings, who(m) you’ve met.
3 I had two sisters, who(m) I felt a close connection to, and an older brother.
4 My sisters and I shared a room, where we spent nights talking.
5 My brother, who(m) I hardly ever saw, slept on the living room couch.
6 It was a large old couch(,) which my father had made himself.
7 My best friend, whose family I loved, lived across the hall
8 We went to the same school, where we both studied English.
9 Mr. Robinson, who(m) everyone was a little afraid of, was our English teacher.
10 After school, I worked in a bakery(,) which my aunt and uncle owned.
   After school, I worked in a bakery that my aunt and uncle owned.
   After school, I worked in a bakery my aunt and uncle owned.
11 They sold delicious bread and cake, which people stood in line for hours to buy.
   They sold delicious bread and cake that people stood in line for hours to buy.
12 My brother and sisters, who(m) I miss, live far away now.
   (I miss my brother and sisters, who live far away now.)
13 When we get together, we like to talk about the old days, when we all lived at home.
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Oxford/Serial comma:
You could have tea, coffee(,) or water.