Summary of differences between restrictive and nonrestrictive clause Restrictive
Non Restrictive Provides information necessary for
identifying a noun in the main clause Provides additional information but
information is unnecessary to determining the identity of a noun
in the main clause No pauses no comma or special
intonation to set off the relative clause from the main clause.
Commas in writing and special pauses and intonation in speech set
the relative clauses off from the main clause.
That is freely used as relative pronoun
instead of who m and which e.g.: The teacher whothat uses a good shoes is my
friend. That
cannot be used as a relative pronoun instead of who m and
which , e.g: Ahmad Syarif, that uses
good islamic dress, is my teacher. The correct answer: Ahmad Syarif,
who uses a good islamic dress, is
my teacher. Does not usually modify proper noun,
one of a kind, antecedent identified by the preceding context, antecedent refers
to all of a class except it modifies some of a class e.g:
- The chairs which were in bad
condition were sent out to be repaired and refinished. Some chairs were in
bad condition; the others were not It may modify proper noun, one of
a kind, antecedent identified by the preceding context, antecedent refers
to all of a class as well as common nouns, e.g: Husnul, who wears a
fez, is the teacher. His aunt, who lives in
California, came to visit him recently.
Late in the evening they sent out for some coffee. The coffee,
which had been boiling for along time, tasted rancid
The chairs, which were in bad condition were sent out to be
repaired and refinished. All the chairs were in bad condition.
3. The Difficulties in Learning Adjective Clauses
It is not easy to understand and use clauses especially in adjective clauses until someone faces the probem in learning it. Stanley J. Cook and Richard W.
Suter gives two kinds of clauses problems. The first is the lack of knowledge about clauses until students write a fragment. As They said that when a person
does not fully understand the essential facts about clauses, he or she can easily fall into the habit of writing sentence fragment. Sentence fragments occur whenever
someone uses a dependent clause or part of an independent clause as if it were a complete sentence. For example,
“Because I needed more money.” Here the writer has used a single adverbial clause as if it constituted a complete sentence.
Fragment like this can be remedied by attacking the dependent clause to an independent clause, so that a truly complete sentence results, such as “Because I
needed more money, I took a second job.” A second problem involving clauses
concerns the matter of choosing between the relative pronouns who and whom. The distinction between them can be explained in several ways, but since most
people are looking only for a simple test that will provide the correct pronoun each time, we suggest that you give them just that-a simple test-and try to avoid
reference to “direct object functioned” and other more theoretical approaches, at least initially. The simplest test we know of is to determine whether a subject
noun or subject pronoun follows the relative pronoun. If it does, then whom should be used; if not, the correct pronoun is who. For example as follows:
- The attorney whom I subject pronoun contracted refused my case.
- The secretary whom Mrs.Tucker subject noun hired a superb typist.
- The doctor who treated me is from India.
- The person who tutored me charges very little.
In practice, many people find it sufficient just to see what kind of word follows the relative pronoun. If a noun or pronoun immediately follows the
relative pronoun, they use whom, if a verb follows the relative pronoun, they use who.
This version of the test is extremely simple and will almost provide the correct answer.
25
In addition, Michael Swan gives the examples of typical mistakes in adjective clause as follows:
-
There’s the man who he teaches me the guitar.
-
I don’t like people which lose their temper easily.
-
I think you should stay faithful to the person whom you are married to.
These sentences are definitely wrong. The first sentence is clearly wrong
because the clause is added he
as though it is adjective clause as object yet it’s
function as subject that does not use he after the relative pronoun who. The
second sentence is definitely wrong because the student don’t know the function
of relative pronoun which when the antecedent of person is used in this sentence. Who
is used instead of which. And the last it is definitely wrong because the
students use informal language. The function of relative pronoun as object of preposition does not put the preposition in the end of the sentence but before
relative pronoun. The correct sentences:
-
There’s the man who teaches me the guitar.
- I don’t like people who lose their temper easily.
-
I think you should stay faithful to the person to whom you are married.
26
Based on the explanation above, there are some difficulties in learning clauses especially about adjective clauses. The first is the meaning and the usage
of relative pronoun in formal language when it refers to antecedent. The second is the form of adjective clause correctly when its function as subject, object, or
25
Stanley J. Cook and Richard W. Suter, A Study of…, pp. 234 –235.
26
Michael Swam, Practical English…, p. 525.
object of preposition. The last is the lack of knowledge in clauses until someone makes fragment.
In addition, to avoid the mistakes, it is needed the comprehension about the usage of adjective clauses clearly. The next point of this paper is the usages of
adjective clauses especially in using relative pronoun which are broken down into two parts, namely restrictivedefining and nonrestrictivenon-defining clauses.
4. The Usage of Adjective Clauses
In this point, the writer gives the usage of adjective clauses that is based on the kind of its own. In order to more understand, each of relative pronouns are
explained below based on the points. a.
Relative Pronouns used in defining relative clauses The forms are as follows:
Antecedent subject
Object of verbprep. possessive
For person who
Whomwho whose
that that
For things which
which Whoseof
which that
that 1
Defining relative clauses: persons a
Subject: ‘who’ or ‘that’ When
‘who’ and ‘that’ are used as subject and refer to person, they are always followed a verb.
27
For examples: -
The man who robbed you has been arrested. -
The girl that serves in the shop is my friend. But
‘that’ is a possible alternative after all, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody
and those: For example:
Everyone whothat knew him liked him.
27
J. B. Alter, Essential English Usage and Grammar, Hong Kong: Times Educational,1980, 4
th
Ed. , p. 76.
Therefore, when the antecedent is preceded by any or all such as any man, anyone, all people, all those, the following clause is always a defining clause. For
example: The boy who broke the window is called Tom.
28
b Object of a verb ‘whom’ or ‘who’ or ‘that’
When whom and that are used as object of a verb and refer to person, they are always followed a noun or pronoun.
29
The object form is whom , but this is considered very formal. In spoken English, we normally use who or that that
being more usual than who, and it is still more common to omit the object pronoun altogether:
- The man whom I saw told me to come back today or
- The man who I saw…..or The man that I saw …….or
- The man I saw…..relative pronoun omitted
c With a preposition: ‘whom’ or ‘that’
When ‘whom’ or ‘that’ is used as object of preposition and refer to
person, it is always followed a noun or pronoun. In formal English the preposition is placed before the relative pronoun, which must then be put into the form
‘whom’: The man to whom I spoke In informal speech, however, it is more usual to move the preposition to
the end of the clause. ‘Whom’ then is often replaced by ‘that’, but it is still more
common to omit the relative altogether -
The man whowhom I spoke to or -
The man that I spoke to or the man I spoke to. d
Possesive ‘Whose’ and ‘of which’ have similar functions. We use ‘whose’ to refer to
persons and ‘of which’ to animals and inanimate objects. ‘whose’ and ‘of which’
are used to show possession.
30
28
A. S. Hornby, Guide to Patterns and Usage in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press,1975, 2
nd
Ed. , p. 156.
29
J. B. Alter, Essential English.., p. 76.
30
J. B. Alter, Essential English.., p. 77.
