How we use commas in relative clauses
Commas in relative clauses
Cristina has written to ask how we use commas in relative clauses
So here are two very easy easy things to remember
1) Compare:
- A) The place where I went to school is a wonderful town. and …
B)
Edinburgh, where I went to university, is a beautiful city.
In A you can’t say “The place is a wonderful town” … why? Because we don’t know which place it is. This means that it is essential to put the complete defining clause because “The place where I went to school” is the SUBJECT of “is” in “is a wonderful town” (grammatically this is called a Defining Relative Clause …. so we DO NOT USE COMMAS)
In B it IS possible to say “Edinburgh is a beautiful city” and “where I went to university” is extra informationthat grammatically is not necessary. Both parts are grammatically complete sentences (grammatically this type of Relative Clause is called a non-defining Relative Clause, because it does NOT define the subject, it only adds information, this type IS written with COMMAS at the beginning and end)
Compare:
- My brother, who lives in New York, is a doctor.
- (I only have one brother and he is a doctor. “lives in NY” is additional information)
- My brother who lives in London is an architect.
- (I have more than one brother: the one who lives in London is an architect “my other brother is a teacher“
2) Connecting two phrases into one at the end:
A) “Mary ate 4 big cakes, which made her feel sick“.
Here it is not the cakes that made her feel sick, it was the fact that she ATE 4 cakes that made her feel sick ..
So we USE COMMASB) Ian pushed Cristina into the swimming-pool, which Mariona thought was very funny
In this case “which” = Ian pushed Cristina into the swimming-pool …
Again we use COMMAS (it’s the same as 2A)
C) John works for a company which makes computers. ….
Here there is NO comma because the relative clause is a DEFINING relative clause; if you just put “John works for a company” it would look a bit stupid
Do you understand when I talk about: defining and non-defining?
Defining = it defines, explains WHICH person, brother, house, place etc we are referring to.
non-defining = it doesn’t explain or define; we KNOW which one it is from other information.Defining = no comma or commas
non-defining = comma or commas
For more English language and grammar lessons check here
Categories: Grammar -
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