Restrictiveness

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In

non-restrictive
; "John's mother" identifies her sufficiently, whereas "beautiful" only serves to add more information.

Restrictive modifiers are also called defining, identifying, essential, or necessary; non-restrictive ones are also called non-defining, non-identifying, descriptive, or unnecessary (though this last term can be misleading). In certain cases, generally when restrictiveness is marked syntactically through the lack of commas,[clarification needed] restrictive modifiers are called integrated and non-restrictive ones are called non-integrated or supplementary.

Restrictiveness in English

Main article: English relative clauses

English does not generally mark modifiers for restrictiveness, with the exception of

dubious – discuss]) and in writing by using commas, whereas restrictive clauses are not. Furthermore, although restrictive clauses can be headed by any of the relative pronouns who(m), which, that or by a zero
, non-restrictive clauses can only be headed by who(m) or which. For example:

Although English does not consistently mark ordinary adjectives for restrictiveness, they can be marked periphrastically by moving them into relative clauses. For example, "John's beautiful wife" can be rewritten as "John's wife, who is beautiful", to avoid the suggestion of disambiguation between John's various wives. A sentence unmarked for restrictiveness, like "The red car is fancier than the blue one," can—if necessary—be rephrased to make it explicitly restrictive or non-restrictive:

  • Restrictive: The car that's red is fancier than the one that's blue.
  • Non-restrictive: The car, which is red, is fancier than the other, which is blue.

English speakers do not generally find such locutions necessary, however.

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ In formal American English, the use of which as a restrictive pronoun is often considered to be incorrect. See That or which.

Citations

  1. OCLC 637166830, archived
    (PDF) from the original on 25 September 2013, retrieved 24 October 2015

Sources
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Restrictiveness&oldid=1226948903"