What Is The Difference Between A Defining and Non-Defining Relative Clause? If you wish, we can examine this in more detail through an example. We can't drop the relative pronoun in this kind of clause, even if the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause. Clare, who I work with, is doing the London marathon this year Alice, who works in London , will be starting a teaching course in the autumn They are introduced by a relative pronoun like 'that', 'which', 'who', 'whose', 'where' and 'when'. Compare the following examples: When the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause, it cannot be omitted. The relative pronoun which at the beginning of a non-defining relative clause, can refer to all the information contained in the previous part of the sentence, rather than to just one word. When relative pronouns introduce restrictive relative clauses, no comma is used to separate the restrictive clause from the main clause. 4. Although it may seem a little scary and difficult for people who learn English, it is actually easy and fun. These relative pronouns appear at the start of the defining relative clause and refer to a noun that appears earlier in the sentence. We usually use a relative pronoun (e.g. It is also called adjective clause because it defines a noun. Relative clauses . If we want to use ‘that’ instead of ‘who’ and ‘which’ in the sentence, let’s note that there are no commas and propositions on the left side of the relative pronoun. It may be omitted when it is not the subject of the clause. But that would not be possible in any case. If the expression annotated in an annotated sentence is the object of the sentence, relative pronoun expressions (which, who, that, when, why) can be removed from the sentence. In the examples below, the common usage is given with the defining relative clause highlighted. The relative clause comes after the noun. For example; Now let’s link these two sentences using the relative clause. The woman who is with the red dress asking me the address was very beautiful. Commas or parentheses are used to separate non-defining relative clauses from the rest of the sentence. Which: ‘Which’ relative clause is a relative pronoun used in English to qualify objects and animals. Take for example the sentence: Dogs that like cats are very unusual. When specifying time in English, a tense preposition such as ‘in, on and at’ is necessarily used. In this sentence we understand that there are many dogs in the world, but we are only talking about the ones that like cats. While both types of relative clauses add extra information to the sentence, a defining relative clause clearly adds detail about a specific noun that is defined. It is a structure that defines a name and makes it distinctive. 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