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Angela Martinez
When you need to be specific, you can use restrictive clauses and nonrestrictive clauses to give more details about the people, places and things that you are talking about. Also known as relative clauses or adjective clauses, both restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses add different kinds of information to a sentence.
Learn more about the role of these helpful clauses in this article. Review examples of restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses, and see how relative pronouns and adverbs work with restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses in English.
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Restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses are phrases that give us additional information about the subject or object of a sentence. They’re commonly referred to as relative clauses or adjective clauses. You can see examples of these clauses underlined in the sentences below:
The woman that just came in is our new boss.
The Empire State Building, which is 102 stories tall, is the most well-known structure in Manhattan.
Is that the delivery driver whom you spoke with yesterday?
Lake Como, where we had our wedding, is in Northern Italy.
Both restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses begin with a relative pronoun or adverb. In the above examples, the relative pronoun or adjective is in bold. A relative clause gives information about the noun that comes before it.
Relative clauses help us say things more efficiently, which can be quite handy when you want to get your point across more quickly.
The two sentences below can be shortened with the help of a relative clause:
We had a brainstorming session last week to discuss ideas for the new launch.
The brainstorming session yielded very good suggestions.
Here are some different ways to combine the sentences using relative clauses:
The brainstorming session that we had last week yielded very good suggestions.
The brainstorming session, which was to discuss ideas for the new launch, yielded very good suggestions.
The brainstorming session, which yielded very good suggestions, was to discuss ideas for the new launch.
There are two types of relative clauses: restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. Let’s take a look at how these two types of relative clauses work.
Restrictive clauses introduce essential information
Restrictive clauses provide essential information about the subject or object of a sentence. They are frequently referred to as “defining” or “essential” relative clauses.
If we remove a restrictive clause, a sentence can still be grammatically correct. However, without the clause, it won’t be clear who or what you are talking about.
Take a look at the examples below:
The woman is our new boss.
Is that the delivery driver?
The two sentences are grammatically correct. Nevertheless, without additional context, it’s unclear which woman or delivery driver you are referring to.
To make this clear, you can use a restrictive clause:
The woman who just came in is our new boss.
The woman that was in our meeting is our new boss.
Is that the delivery driver whom you spoke with yesterday?
Is that the delivery driver that overcharged you for the pizza?
Nonrestrictive clauses add nonessential details
Whereas we use restrictive clauses to specify exactly who or what we are talking about, we use nonrestrictive clauses to share additional information. We can remove a nonrestrictive clause without changing the overall meaning of the sentence.
Nonrestrictive clauses are also called nondefining or nonessential clauses. Here are two examples:
This idea, which I objected to from the start, was a complete waste of time.
Tom, who works across the hall from me, was recently promoted to account manager.
If we remove the underlined nonrestrictive clauses, the main point of the sentence remains the same:
This idea was a complete waste of time.
Tom was recently promoted to account manager.
With nonrestrictive clauses, it’s already clear to the listener exactly who or what the speaker is referring to. The nonrestrictive clause just provides additional details.
That church, which is the largest in the city, is where the former monarchs are buried.
Our new roommate, who is studying at the local community college, keeps the house very tidy.
Pronouns and adverbs in relative clauses
Every relative clause starts with a relative pronoun or adverb. Each relative pronoun refers to either people, things, or both, and the adverbs “where” and “when” refer to places and times. Also, specific relative pronouns are used as the subject or object of the clause. The table below summarizes how these words work in relative clauses.
Relative pronouns and adverbs in relative clauses
| Relative pronoun | Used for | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Who | People (subject) | The client who sent this complaint is unhappy with our service. My sister, who is a nurse, is retiring next month. |
| That | People or things (subject) | The seed that I planted last year is sprouting. The person that left the letter in our mailbox was very kind. |
| Which | Things (subject or object) | Mount Everest, which is the Earth’s tallest mountain, is located in Nepal. I bought a Hermès bag, which is considered one of the most luxurious handbags on the market. |
| Whom | Persons (object) | The local representative, whom I have called multiple times, has not responded to my request yet. The thief, whom the security guard didn’t notice, got away with multiple items. |
| Whose | Possession | The man whose dog you rescued is offering a handsome reward. John, whose last name I keep forgetting, just emailed me about the problem. |
| Where | Places | The last place where I left my phone was in his house. Harvard University, where many U.S. Presidents went to college, is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
| When | Times | The moment when he walked into the room is one I will never forget. During that time, when no one reached out to me, I felt very lonely. |
Tips when using restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses
Here are some rules to keep in mind when using relative clauses.
Commas are only used with nonrestrictive clauses
We use commas to separate nonrestrictive clauses from the rest of the sentence.
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My wife, who’s currently on maternity leave, will return to work next week.
A nonrestrictive clause, which is often located in the middle of the sentence, can sometimes be added at the end of a sentence. In this case, we add a comma before the nonrestrictive clause.
My parents got me a new tablet, which comes with a stylus!
We just met our new colleagues Maria and Peter, whose children go to the same school as ours.
Be careful using which and that with relative clauses
Many English learners get a little confused when using which and that.
Both of these relative pronouns can refer to a nonhuman noun in relative clauses. But the word that can also refer to a person. To make things easier, it’s best to use that with restrictive clauses and which with nonrestrictive clauses.
Restrictive clause examples using that:
The watch that he’s wearing was a birthday gift.
You’re the one that keeps bringing up the topic.
Nonrestrictive clause examples with which:
The meeting, which has been delayed for days, can take place over video conference if you’d prefer.
They love riding their bikes down Thornton Avenue, which is a quiet street.
Though technically correct in terms of grammar, using the relative pronoun which in restrictive clauses sounds awkward and is rarely used. We never use that as a relative pronoun in a nonrestrictive clause.
Use whom instead of who for the object of the clause
When you are referring to a person in formal writing and speaking, if the relative pronoun is the object of the relative clause, we use the word whom instead of who. Use who if it’s the subject of the relative clause.
The client whom I’m meeting today is president of the company.
When Nora, who has been running the department for over 10 years, makes a suggestion, I usually follow it.
Your sister, whom I told to call you when she arrived, hasn’t even bothered to send me a text.
You’re the one who wanted me to tell you if there were any updates.
Most English speakers use who for simplicity. So to make things easier, it’s okay to use who in informal conversations so you don’t have to worry about whether it’s the subject or object of the relative clause.
Removing the pronoun or adverb in restrictive clauses
Relative pronouns are extremely helpful for building restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. You can, however, remove them in restrictive clauses in informal contexts, but only if the relative pronoun is the object of the clause. Take a look at the two sentences below.
Are you done with the class notes that I lent you?
The vendor whom I mentioned yesterday will be increasing their prices next month.
In these sentences, the words that and whom function as objects, not subjects. We can thus remove them without changing the meaning of the sentence:
Are you done with the class notes I lent you?
The vendor I mentioned yesterday will be increasing their prices next month.
You should not remove the relative pronoun or adverb in nonrestrictive clauses, and you can never leave out the word whose in any type of relative clause. Leaving these out makes your sentence grammatically incorrect.
Summary of restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses
The table below summarizes the differences between restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses.
Restrictive vs nonrestrictive clauses
| Restrictive Clauses | Nonrestrictive Clauses | |
|---|---|---|
| When to use them | Adds essential information about a noun. Cannot be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence. | Adds nonessential information about a noun. Can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence. |
| Pronouns and adverbs used | that, who, whom, whose, when, where | which, who, whom, whose, when, where |
| Are commas needed? | No | Yes |
| Can you remove the relative pronoun or adverb? | Yes, if it is the object of the clause. The word whose can never be removed. | No |
| Examples | The movie (that) we watched last night was too long. | Could you grab my wallet, which is at the top of the nightstand? |
| Were you able to speak with the customer who was upset? | Taylor and Sam, who only started a week ago, are picking things up quickly. | |
| The person whose phone you found is coming to pick it up later. | Don’t forget that your cousin, whose trip is next week, asked you to look after his cat. | |
| Wasn’t Mike the one (whom) you emailed earlier today? | It is unfair for the shareholders, whom we’ve asked for additional time, to make this decision without consulting us. | |
| The city where I grew up is full of greenery. | Orlando, where Walt Disney World is located, is one of Florida’s most expensive cities. | |
| The summer (when) I visited Paris is one I will never forget. | Last summer, when you were packing to go to college, was a difficult time for me. |
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AUTHOR
Angela Martinez
Newlanguages