Guided Notes

Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Elements

Restrictive Elements Restrictive elements (known also as

essential elements) are phrases or clauses that are necessary to make the meaning of the sentence clear.

These elements ARE NOT SET OFF BY COMMAS.

Restrictive words or phrases modify the noun or pronoun.

The reader must have this information to understand the sentence.

Examples The dancer pirouetting center stage

moves with grace and beauty. The restrictive element is pirouetting

center stage because it tells us which one of the dancers was moving with grace and beauty

You try… Underline the restrictive elements The woman carrying the basket of fruit

on her head is Mrs. Balancebeam. The teller standing at the first window

seems to hate her job. The man selling newspapers in front of

Safeway has traveled around the world three times.

People hiding criminals are guilty of breaking the law.

Answers and Explanations The woman carrying the basket of fruit

of her head is Mrs. Balancebeam. The reader needs to know which woman

is Mrs. Balancebeam. By telling us it’s the woman carrying the basket allows the reader to understand. This is a restrictive element. It needs to be there.

Answers and Explanations The teller standing at the first window

seems to hate her job. There are multiple windows so the reader

does not know which teller is being talked about. By letting the reader know it’s the one at the first window allows the reader to understand which person is being referred to.

Answers and Explanations The man selling newspapers in front of

Safeway has traveled around the world three times. We can infer there are more people

standing in front of Safeway. By letting the reader know the man being talked about is selling newspapers allows the reader to understand which person is being talked about.

Answers and Explanations People hiding criminals are guilty of

breaking the law. Hiding criminals is the restrictive element

because…

Nonrestrictive Elements Nonrestrictive elements are phrase or clauses

that are NOT necessary to make a sentence clear.

Nonrestrictive elements are set off by commas. Nonrestrictive elements are pieces of

additional information that help clarify a noun or pronoun.

Taking out a nonrestrictive element will not change the meaning or understanding of the sentence.

Examples

Mr. Carlton, who belongs to the Historical

Society, will be the main speaker at our next meeting. The information in red and BETWEEN the commas

is nonrestrictive. The reader does NOT need to know that Mr. Carlton belongs to the historical society.

The reader ONLY needs to know that Mr. Carlton will be the main speaker at the next meeting.

You try… Put commas around the nonrestrictive elements The garden which was quite beautiful

contained many varieties of tomatoes. Grandma wearing her bonnet and old

work clothes should not spend so much time weeding the garden.

Cindy who is my favorite cousin is a good creative writer.

Susan who enjoys all kinds of music often attends concerts.

Answers and Explanations The garden, which was quite beautiful,

contained many varieties of tomatoes. The reader does not need to know the

garden was quite beautiful. This can be taken out of the sentence and the reader will still understand that the garden contains a variety of tomatoes.

Answers and Explanations Grandma, wearing her bonnet and old

work clothes, should not spend so much time weeding the garden. The nonrestrictive element is wearing her

bonnet and old work clothes. The reader only needs to understand that Grandma should not spend so much time weeding the garden. Knowing what Grandma is wearing is additional information.

Answers and Explanations Cindy, who is my favorite cousin, is a

good creative writer. The reader only needs to understand that

Cindy is a creative writer. The nonrestrictive element is that she is my favorite cousin. This can be taken out of the sentence.

Answers and Explanations Susan, who enjoys all kinds of music,

often attends concerts. Why is the information between the

commas a nonrestrictive element?

Quiz Time What is the difference between

restrictive and nonrestrictive elements? Do I use commas with restrictive or

nonrestrictive elements? Where are commas placed when they

are used? Write a sentence that uses a restrictive

element AND a sentence that uses a nonrestrictive element.