Defining and non-defining clauses

What are relative pronouns?

• relative pronouns include who, whose, whom, which, that, where.

• relative pronouns include he, she, it, they, we.

• Relative pronouns are him. her, them, us, it.

What is the function of relative pronouns?

• They introduce new clauses in sentences

• They indicate tense of the sentence

• They show who is the subject of the sentence

What are the types of relative clauses?

• Defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses

• Verbs and adjectives

• Adverbial and possessive relative clauses

What are defining clauses?

• Defining clauses define who did the action in the sentence.

• Defining clauses are the clauses that introduce essential/important information in the sentence that cannot be omitted.

• Defining clauses introduce information that is not important in the sentence. You can omit them without affecting the message of the speaker.

What are non-defining clauses?

• Non-defining clauses define who did the action in the sentence.

• Non-defining clauses are the clauses that introduce essential/important information in the sentence that cannot be omitted.

• Non-defining clauses introduce information that is not important in the sentence. You can omit them without affecting the message of the speaker.

How do we punctuate defining clauses?

• we place them between two commas.

• We don't put them between commas.

• We use a semi-colon to separate defining clauses.

How do we punctuate non-defining clauses?

• We put them between commas.

• We don't put them between commas.

• We separate non-defining clauses with a semi-colon.