Basic English Syntax with Exercises

non-restrictive relative clause

7.4.1 The position of the relative clause inside the NP

However, there is a slight complication in that there are more than one type of relative clause. Those that we have been looking at so far are known as restrictive relative clauses. Semantically these tend to focus on one element out of a set of possible referents. For example, the components that we make focuses on a particular set of components out of a larger set of components which are distinguished by the fact that we make them. Thus, the purpose of the relative is to ‘restrict’ our attention to a certain element or elements out of a possible range of elements. By contrast, non-restrictive relative clauses simply add extra information about the referent of the noun being modified:

7.4.1 The position of the relative clause inside the NP

Restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses also differ from each other in terms of their internal properties, something which we will discuss more fully in the next section. For now, let us just note that restrictive relative clauses may begin with a that whereas non-restrictive relatives never do:

7.4.1 The position of the relative clause inside the NP

The two kinds of relative also differ in their prosodic properties. In written form the non-restrictive relative is followed by a comma, which indicates a slight pause between the noun and the relative. There is no pause between the noun and its restrictive modifying clause however.

7.4.1 The position of the relative clause inside the NP

It may be that the two clauses also differ syntactically and indeed it is often assumed that non-restrictive relative clauses are more distant from the noun than are restrictive relatives. This is supported by the following observations:

7.4.1 The position of the relative clause inside the NP

Both kinds of relative clauses can be coordinated with other like constituents showing that they both form a constituent with the noun that they modify. But only the restrictive relative clause and its noun can be pronominalised by one. A possible explanation for this is that one only pronominalises N's and the string consisting of a noun and a non-restrictive clause is not an N'. This suggests that while restrictive relatives adjoin to the N', non-restrictive relatives adjoin higher up, perhaps to the NP: