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Restrictive and Non-restrictive clauses

Restrictive and Non-restrictive clauses

1- My brother, who graduated from the university, emigrated to Canada.
2- My brother who graduated from the university emigrated to Canada

 Example (1) means that I have only one brother. He graduated from the university and emigrated to Canada (non restrictive clause; it only gives us additional information that is why we use commas ,....., see e.g. above)
Example (2) means that I have many brothers and I am speaking about the one who graduated from the university.(restrictive clause; it defines who or what we are talking about. It gives us very important information)

 Examples:
Restrictive clauses.
  1. A calendar is something which tells you the date.
  2. Strikers are soccer players who try to score goals for their team.
  3. The Thames is a river that runs through London.
Non-restrictive clauses:
  1. Nagib Mahfoud, who won the Nobel prize, died a few years ago.
  2. Agadir, which is a Moroccan city, is very beautiful.
Exercise:

 Fill in the gaps with the following relative pronouns. (which , who, when)
  1. There are times............I feel I want to be alone
  2. That's the athlete........won the race last week.
  3. This is the factory........produces cars in Morocco.
  4. She is the woman............is interested in helping the children of this village.
  5. Casablanca,..............is near Rabat, is one of the biggest cities in Africa.
  6. I am looking for a house in the country............ I can live the rest of my life after I retire.




Answers: 1- when 2-who 3- which 4- who 5- which

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