Relative clauses give us all heartburn in English. To begin, let’s answer the question: What IS a relative clause? In a nutshell, relative clauses are a subset of subordinate clauses (i.e., they have a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone) that are introduced by one of the five relative pronouns: that, which, who, whose, or whom. They most often fall at the end of a sentence or (and this is the strange part) right in the middle of a main or independent clause. Here are two examples:
“George is the man who lives on the corner.”
“Bill, who is tall, likes to play basketball.”
I’m sure you don’t have difficulty constructing sentences like these, but the problem is punctuating them. As you can see, in the first example the relative clause was not set off with a comma, while the relative clause in the second example was. The reason is not their location in the sentence but rather the roles they play in the sentences.
The distinction we need to make is between “restrictive” and “nonrestrictive” relative clauses. In the first sentence, the clause “who lives on the corner” is restrictive, or essential, to the sentence. In other words, if it were taken out, the main clause would lose some significant meaning. In the second sentence, the relative clause is nonrestrictive, or nonessential. If you take out the clause, the main clause still conveys the same meaning.
Now, what about the punctuation? Just remember that restrictive or essential clauses ARE NOT set off with commas, while nonrestrictive or nonessential clauses are set off. An easy way to get this right is to see if the relative clause sounds like it could be put in parenthesis. If it does, it’s probably nonessential and should be set off. Examples:
“The paint (which had just been applied) was not yet dry.”
“The paint, which had just been applied, was not yet dry.”
The other problem with relative clauses involves the use of “that” and “which.” It‘s easy enough if you just remember that “that” introduces restrictive clauses (no commas), and “which” is used to introduce nonrestrictive clauses. Here are two examples.
“The car that is in my neighbor’s driveway looks new.” (restrictive)
“Tom got a speeding ticket on the way to work, which is why he was late.” (nonrestrictive)
The final thing to understand is why the five introductory words mentioned above are called relative “pronouns” rather than “conjunctions,” which normally connect clauses. The reason is that these words often wear two hats—as a connector and as the subject of the clause (which can only be a noun or pronoun). For examples, return to the first two sentences above, in which “who” serves not only as a conjunction/connector but also as the subject of the clauses.
I hope this helped. Remember, I‘m here to help you publish your scholarly research, sharpen your grant proposals, etc.
Ray
rh@rayhardestyediting.com
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