English sentence structure can be a little confusing for non-native speakers. Simple “subject-verb-object” sentences are easy enough to understand, but once you start mixing in various clauses and their respective rules, the grammar is no longer as straightforward. How does sentence structure change when you’ve got a restrictive clause versus a non-restrictive one? What even are restrictive/non-restrictive clauses? Don’t worry, Wordsmith is here to shine a light on the matter!
What goes in a clause?
Before we get into the different kinds of clauses, let’s establish what a clause is. According to Caroline Taggart’s and J.A. Wines’ book My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be ‘Me’?), a clause must contain a subject and a predicate (or the verb tied to the subject) – this means that clauses can be boiled down to two basic types:
· Independent (or main) clauses
· Dependent (or subordinate) clauses
Although most sentences we come across contain a subject, verb and object, an independent clause are allowed to act as a standalone sentence with just a subject and verb, like so:
· Jeff drove
· The cat napped
· Mary got married
But an independent clause can also contain an object:
· Jeff drove to work
· The cat napped under the shade
· Mary got married in Paris to Mark
On the other hand, a subordinate clause cannot be a standalone sentence because it contains conditional elements that tie it to the independent clause. Reusing the previous examples, this would be:
A. Jeff drove [even though Sam offered to drive].
B. The cat napped [under the shaded windowsill].
C. Mary got married, [but in Paris and not London as originally planned].
Example A might appear confusing because it seems to contain two independent clauses – if you look at the bracketed subordinate clause, you’ll see that it contains the same elements as an independent clause: “Sam offered to drive”. While that is technically true, it’s the even though placed before it that transforms it into a subordinate clause.
To make subordinate clauses easier to spot, Taggart and Wines note that the following conjunctions attached to a phrase are the most common indicators:
· After, although, as, because, though, if, in order to, rather than, since, so that, unless, and etc…
When you have a subordinate clause attached to an independent clause, you have a “complex sentence”… but did you know that two independent clauses can also work together? The two are called “co-ordinating clauses” and tend to be joined by and, but or or, like so:
· Jeff drove, but Sam offered to drive.
· The cat napped and its sibling watched with disinterest.
· Mary got married… or was it just an elaborate costume party?
It’s all relative
Now that we know how basic independent and dependent clauses interact, let’s take a look at relative clauses – namely, restrictive and non-restrictive clauses – these are most recognisable when you see a subordinate clause begin with that, which, whose, who or whom.
“Restrictive clauses (also sometimes called defining clauses) define or classify a noun or pronoun in the independent clause,” explain Taggart and Wines. “Non-restrictive or non-defining clauses offer further description – a non-restrictive clause is usually preceded by a pause in speech or a comma in writing, whereas a restrictive clause is not.”
It’s not the easiest to understand through instructions alone, so let’s do a couple examples:
· Non-restrictive: Our train, which had been late due to an engine problem, finally arrived at the station.
· Restrictive: Our train which had been late due to an engine problem finally arrived at the station.
At a glance, the biggest difference between the two is that the non-restrictive clause is separated by a pair of commas. If you removed the subordinate clause between the commas in the non-restrictive version, the sentence would still function – this is intentional, as the purpose of the non-restrictive clause is to provide additional information that can be treated as non-essential
However, let’s say we were supposed to be on that train to go meet a client. Now that the train is late, we need to update the client about the delay – if we just said “our train finally arrived at the station”, the client won’t know why the train was late. Since the engine’s condition is an important detail, it makes more sense to use the restrictive clause. Let’s try one more example:
· Non-restrictive: Jerry had to replace his thesis topic yesterday, which was originally about the impact of global warming and rising food costs.
· Restrictive: Jerry had to replace his thesis topic yesterday that was originally about the impact of global warming and rising food costs.
Depending on how important the topic of the thesis was to the conversation, we use the non-restrictive variant if we just wanted to provide some more background information. If the topic was vital to know, like in a formal conversation with the department head to explain why Jerry needed to change his thesis topic, then use the restrictive clause.
When referring to a person, use who or whom as the relative pronoun (occasionally you can use that if you wanted to be informal, but this can only applicable to restrictive clauses). When referring to an inanimate object or being that isn’t human, you can use either which or that for restrictive clauses, but only which for non-restrictive clauses. If dealing with a possessive, use whose.
No: The dog who had been barking all night finally went to sleep.
No: Clyde won an award, whom was a great honour.
No: The CEO, who’s scandal got exposed, was arrested.
Yes: The dog that had been barking all night finally went to sleep.
Yes: Clyde won an award which was a great honour.
Yes: The CEO, whose scandal got exposed, was arrested.
Lastly, for restrictive clauses where the relative pronoun is the object of the sentence, you are free to omit the pronoun without affecting the meaning of the sentence. It’s not a must, but it does help cut down on wordiness:
· The leftovers that I brought home last night was missing.
· The interviewees who Jeff met were dismissed.
· The bouncy castle which Sam rented had arrived.
There’s quite a few rules involved when dealing with clauses, but they become second-nature with enough practise – especially when working in advertising and marketing, since we need to detail and refer to things all the time. Not sure whether you’ve got your English grammatical rules down yet? Contact Wordsmith today for a consultation!