Non-defining relative clauses

How to use non-defining relative clauses in English grammar

 Lesson

What is a Relative Clause? Introduction

Relative clauses give additional information about a noun. They are generally divided into two types:

• those that are defining
• and those that are non-defining

Defining Relative Clauses

They help us to define the object or subject of the sentence.

The example below helps us to understand which is the table that my father made.

This is the table which my father made.

Non-defining Relative Clauses

Non-defining relative clauses give additional information about a thing or a person, but they do not define which person or thing we are talking about.

How do we form these types of sentences with a non-defining relative clause?

1.We identitify the most important information:

Example: My son likes doing athletics.

2. We identify the additional information:

Example: He is a very fast runner. [this will become the non-defining relative clause, it is additional information but not essential]

3. We combine them like this:

My son, *** ** * **** **** ******, likes doing athletics. [the subject is followed by a comma + a relative pronoun + non-defining relative clause + the verb and complement]

My son, who is a very fast runner, likes doing athletics.

– “son” is the subject of the verb “likes”

– the relative pronoun “who” is the subject of “is” and cannot be omitted.

OR:

1. I’ve just failed my university entrance exam.

2. It’s a pity

3. I’ve just failed my university entrance exam**, which* is a pity.

[in this case we put the non-defining relative clause at the end, after the main clause. The relative pronoun “which” must be included.

which* is used here to refer to all of the preceding clause** ]

* note – you can’t use that instead of who / which in non-defining relative clauses.

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