1.2 The man, whose name I can't remember, is a tennis player (non-defining)

Reflexión

Imagen: Creación Propia
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

We have seen that non-defining relative clauses are not necessary to understand the meaning of the main clause. Taking that into account, do you think non-defining relative clauses are necessary?

 

 

 
 

Solved exercise

Imagine you want to give extra information about different nouns. If you can't use relative clauses, you would need two sentences. Have a look at the following examples.

By Not enough megapixels. C. Commons

1. Andrés is one of my closest friends. I have known Andrés for ten years.

2. The new court will be opened next month. The court holds 30,000 people.

3. That man over there is a tennis player. I can't remember his name.

4. Andrés is very interested in my travel. I spoke to him last week.

5. Paco will show his parents the photograph of a guide. The guide helped him in Sydney.

Try to join the pairs of sentences by means of a relative clause. Remember to place the relative next to the noun phrase antecedent- and don't forget the commas!You will see how it is more natural to use them in that way.

Further knowledge

Complete the exercises below to practice with relative clauses, in general, and non-defining relative clauses, in particular. There are also some exercises about defining relative clauses.

 

Self-Assessment activity

Join the following pair of sentences by means of a non-defining relative clause. Pay attention to the commas!

1. Paco is in Melbourne at the moment. He won the lottery several months ago.

Paco, the lottery several months ago Melbourne at the moment.

2. Andrés is one of Paco's closest friends. He is 22.

Andrés, 22, Paco's closes friends.

3. Paco and his friends usually meet at the burger bar. There, they have dinner.

Paco and his friends usually meet at the burger bar , .

4. Paco plays tennis. It is one of his favourite sports.

Paco plays tennis, his favourite sports .

5. He loves reading his guide book. Its cover is completely broken.

He loves reading his guide book, completely broken.

 

Enable JavaScript

There are other kinds of relative clauses, which, by the way are shorter. They are known as "reduced relative clauses". Let's see how they work in the following section!