Page 268 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

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CHAPTER 10
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The relative pronoun is moved to the first position in the clause to
follow the noun it describes
The object noun phrase (the sail and thegun) is omitted because it
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has taken the form of the relative pronoun
The following points are important for L2 writers to know:
•
•
The structure such as *European expansion advanced outside theconti- nent with the development of the sail and the gun, which Western Europe- ans combined *them* in theform of the gunned ship is incorrect because it includes two pronouns—which and them—to refer to the same noun phrase when only one is needed.
Relative pronouns of any kind always follow the noun phrase they
describe.
• In general, adjective clauses always immediately follow the noun
phrase they describe.
Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Adjective Clauses
As mentioned, the purpose of adjective clauses is to modify (describe) the nouns that they follow. All grammar textbooks that deal with adjective clauses invariably mention restrictive and nonrestrictive adjective clauses. Restrictive clauses, by means of narrowly identifying a particular noun, re- strict the range and type of nouns they modify only to one specific noun or type of nouns:
A primary group consists of a small number of people who regularly inter- act on a face-to-face basis, have close personal ties, and are emotionally com- mitted to the relationship. (Thompson & Hickey, 2002, p. 158)
In this example, the rather vague noun phrase a small number of people is "restricted" or limited by the specific definition in the adjective clause. Re- strictive adjective clauses are never separated by commas because the infor- mation in the adjective clauses is necessary (and cannot be separated out) to define and identify the noun.
On the other hand, nonrestrictive clauses are those that supply additional information to describe nouns that are already known or well defined:
In preindustrial societies, most interactions occur in primary groups of friends, neighbors, and kin, who can consist of parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, and other relations.
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In some languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, or Amharic, the repetition of the object noun
or pronoun isrequired, and L2writerswhoare speakersoftheselanguages maymakethistype of error particularlyfrequently.
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