Restrictive and Non-Restrictive Clauses

Clauses are considered as one of the parts of aRestrictive clauses, to put it simply, are ones that are
sentence. It has been so useful in order to make yournecessary to deliver a sentence's meaning. For
sentence more understandable and readable. Forinstance, when saying "The computer that has the
some people, a clause is sometimes hard to noticelightest weight is the one I want," there is no way to
and hard to be constructed. But in the field of writingremove the clause "that has the lightest weight"
especially for essay writing, it is important that a writerwithout rendering the sentence meaningless. As such, it
should know more about the correct and proper wayis a restrictive clause which will need to be kept to
of using clauses in their contents.maintain your statement's clarity.
Do you know how to recognize a clause in yourNon-restrictive Clauses
sentence? A clause can be the independent orNon-restrictive clauses, on the other hand, are ones
dependent. Independent clause is also known as thethat can be removed without affecting the overall
main clause in a sentence whereby it can stand alonemessage. For instance, when saying "The computer
since it is a complete thought. Furthermore, everythat I want, which is very light, sits on the third row," the
sentence must have a main clause, otherwise, it willclause "which is very light" can be easily removed
result to fragment and there will be a major grammarwithout affecting the statement's over all meaning. It will
error in your essay once it will happen.be a prime candidate for groups of words you can
A dependent clause is also known as a subordinateremove.
clause and therefore an incomplete thought. In order toThe rub, however, is that removing certain
make it complete, you should always attach acomponents might make your sentence read a little
subordinate clause to the main clause. Other kinds ofless interesting. While shortening "The car, which rocks
clauses are known as relative and noun clauses.my world, is out now" to "The car is out now" sure
Relative clauses can't stand alone also and sometimesmeans the same thing, it loses the added impact that
it is associated with pronouns or adverbs in athe non-restrictive clause adds. Just because you can
sentence. On the other hand, any clause that functionsremove it doesn't mean you should.
as a noun is called noun clause.Let The Software Guide You
When you're trimming down a piece of writing toIf you own a good writing software, make sure to
make it more succinct and brief, it's not unusual to goemploy its assistance when trying to decide how to
after phrases and clauses that don't really contributecut down your text. While it's not perfect (it's still just
an integral piece into individual statement's meaning.software), it will likely point you in the right direction
That's when the concept of restrictive andwhen identifying which non-restrictive clauses you can
non-restrictive clauses usually comes in.pull out, without damaging your work's overall feel.
Restrictive Clauses