Relative clauses add extra information to a sentence by defining a noun. They are usually divided into two types – defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses.
Non-defining relative clauses
Look at this sentence.
👉My grandfather, who is 87, goes swimming every day.
‘who is 87’ is a non-defining relative clause. It adds extra information to the sentence. If we take the clause out of the sentence, the sentence still has the same meaning.
Look at some more examples.
👉My eldest brother, whose work takes him all over the world, is in the USA at the moment.
👉The film, which stars Maheshbabu, is going to be released soon.
In the first sentence, it is clear which brother is being talked about and the relative clause provides extra information.
In the second sentence, the speaker thinks you know which film you are talking about, and the information about Mahesh Babu is just something interesting.
Defining or non-defining?
Remember that defining relative clauses are used to add important information. The sentence would have a different meaning without the defining relative clause.
👉 I’m going to wear the shirt that I bought in Hyderabad.
👉 The shirt, which is a lovely dark blue colour, only cost 500 rupees.
The first sentence with a defining relative clause tells us which shirt. The second sentence, with a non-defining relative clause, doesn’t tell us which shirt– it gives us more information about the shirt. The context (which is missing here) makes it clear which shirt is being talked about.
Non-defining relative clauses can use most relative pronouns (which, whose etc,) but *they CAN’T use ‘that’ and the relative pronoun can never be omitted.*
👉The film, that stars Chiranjeevi, is released on Friday.
Non-defining relative clauses are more often used in written English than in spoken English. You can tell that a clause is non-defining because it is separated by commas at each end of the clause.
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