2a The policies, which were unpopular, were rejected by the voters.

2b The policies which were unpopular were rejected by the voters.

3a My niece, whose husband is out of work, will inherit the house, which I have always treasured.

3b My niece whose husband is out of work will inherit the house which I have always treasured.

The first sentence in each pair has a non-restrictive clause within two commas, and the second has a restrictive clause. A non-restrictive clause simply adds more information into the sentence and does not affect the meaning of the main clause: it is therefore bracketed off with commas (1a = an uncle who happens to live in London). Conversely, a restrictive clause defines its referent in the main clause more specifically and contributes significantly to the meaning of the sentence. Thus it is that particular uncle who lives in London who is referred to (1b). In 2a, all policies were unpopular and all were rejected, whereas in 2b only the policies that were unpopular were rejected. Note that in restrictive clauses the non-human relative pronoun is either 'that' or 'which', whereas for human referents the relative pronoun can be either 'who/m' or 'that' (the man that/whom I will marry ....).

3. A test on FORMAL ADJECTIVE CLAUSES

Directions: Combine the sentences. Use formal written English.

Use (b) as an adjective clause. Punctuate carefully.

1) (a) An antecedent is a word. (b) A pronoun refers to this word.

An antecedent ____

2) (a) The blue whale is considered the largest animal that has ever lived.(b) It can grow to 100 feet and 150 tons.

The blue whale ____

3) (a) The plane was met by a crowd of 300. (b) Some of them had been waiting for more than 4 hours.

The plane ____

4) (a) In this paper, I will describe the basic process.(b) Raw cotton becomes cotton thread by this process.