Defining and Non-defining Relative Clause

1. Defining and Non-definingRelative Clause Prepared by Jason Wong

2. Defining Relative Clause • The boy is dandy. (Which one?) • c.f. 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? • Different subject - ‘The girl’ vs. ‘May’ • 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. • My girlfriend has taught me a lot. She is a teacher. • The doctor is famous. He cured the Chief Executive of pneumonia. • The man runs 2 km every day. He is a fireman.

9. My father is very hardworking. He is a merchant. • Jolin’s boyfriend asked for help. He is so stupid. • The boy sings sweetly. He has a good voice. • The woman is Kelly Chan. She is a famous singer.