Restrictive Clause

[janestory]

Hi Luke,

After some corrections from you, I found my many mistakes was when to use restrictive clause. Could you please explain it?


Jane

[luke]

Hi Janestory,

Modifying clauses come in two types, restrictive and nonrestrictive. The two are easily separated because whilst the restrictive clause is essential to understanding the complete sentence, the nonrestrictive clause is not.

The restrictive clause is an adjective clause and adds information which is necessary to be known. The meaning of the sentence would change if you removed it. For example;

Students who practice their writing will improve
Students will improve : which is clearly greatly different.

A nonrestrictive clause is an adjective clause which adds detail not essential to the main idea of the sentence, and when removed, doesn't change the overall meaning. Nonrestrictive clauses often have commas before and after them. For example;

Luke, who is our teacher, loves to watch films
Luke loves to watch films : has the same original meaning


Does that help clarify things?

[janestory]

Hi Luke,

Thank you for explaining. I got it clearly

But I am still confused with when to use the restrictive clause. During my mistakes,when I used the general clauses,you corrected it with restrictive clause or nonrestrictive clause. Sometimes I used the adjective clause and then you corrected it with general clause. So I am confused. Don't mind,I am not complained with that.I think it need both time and more practice to know clearly.

BTW, I didn't  find the function to dig all the posts I have posted so that I couldn't give the examples to explain my puzzle. Is it only my trouble in looking  for the whole posts or there is not the function in the website?

Jane

[luke]

Hi Janestory,

It's true that I often change the clauses, but it's very hard to say why. I always try to make them sound like natural written English, rather than formal spoken. Perhaps this is a reason? Regardless, watch the next few posts you give and note the changes. You can ask me about them specifically in a new post.

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by 'dig' a post. Can you explain that? Why would you do it, and what benefit does it bring? Perhaps show me another website that does this, and I'll check it out.

Thanks.

[janestory]

Hi Luke,

Excuse me for using 'dig',it means 'search'. Sometimes if we want to look at the posts we have sent or the others sent,we can use the search function.For an example, I want to read the threads I have sent,I can search by my name. Do I explain clearly?

Jane

[luke]

That's perfectly clear, thanks.

To search your own or others threads, you can click on their name is see their profile information, or search with the profile link (near the top of the page);

http://www.aenglish.net/english-forum/profile/


You should be able to search for posts in the search box, although it's not connected to specific people;

http://www.aenglish.net/english-forum/search/


You can also check the statistics to see areas of interest, by clicking on the stats link at the bottom of the page;

http://www.aenglish.net/english-forum/stats/


Does that help? I would mostly recommend the first option to you, as it focuses on particular users.

[janestory]

Hi Luke,

Thank you very much. Such an excellent function for us. I found that the software you used were very good. Could you tell me the name? I am interested in it,as you know my major is computer science.

JANE

[luke]

Sure Jane, it is a free forum engine called SMF. There is a link at the bottom of the page for 'powered by SMF 1.1.5;' just follow that.

The forum engine is great because it's very secure at present, and of course, FREE!