Department of English January 2024

Second year S1
Grammar

Lesson 7: ATTRIBUTIVE APPOSITIVE CLAUSES & ATTRIBUTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSES

1- Attributive appositive clauses are also called content clauses as they disclose the semantic meaning
of the antecedent:

The impression that the experiment has been carefully conducted is inaccurate.

Appositive clauses differ from relative ones because they are used to report/ say what exactly the fact, idea
or suggestion is and not just say something about it.

The news that John received a letter from Bill is a real surprise. (appositive)

The news that John received from Bill is a real surprise. ( relative)

2- An attributive appositive clause is always joined syndetically by means of conjunction ‘that’ because
this clause is closely connected with its antecedent . the syntactic relationship between the
antecedent and the attributive appositive clause is defined as “apposition”. Generally the apposed
units could be linked with the verb ‘to be’

The impression is that the experiment has been carefully conducted. (‘that’ clause functions as part of the
predicate of the sentence)

3- The antecedent of the attributive appositive clause is most typically a countable abstract noun; such
as the following:

Admission, conclusion, advice, assumption, answer, decision, fact, idea, message, opinion, report,
requirement, suggestion, thought, warning, hope ..etc.

There was a little hope that the climbers would be found alive.

Have you heard the news that the border has been closed? (the word ‘news’ can also be used as
antecedent)

The question of whether we should demand a payment for our services was not even discussed.

(‘ question’ and ‘problem’ are usually followed by a subordinator which can be preceded by the preposition
“of”).
 4- After volitional antecedents as; demand, requirement, request, proposal.. appositive clause stands
in the subjunctive mood.

They made a decision that each worker contribute a day’s pay.

We sent a request that more lights (should) be installed on our street.

ATTRIBUTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSES

1- Attributive relative clauses are joined with the help of relative pronouns or adverbs (wh-words and
the relative pronoun ‘that’). Their function is to qualify the antecedent.

The dean honored all students who had received good grades.

I’ll never forget the day when we got stuck in the traffic jam for 6 hours.

New York, which has a population of over eight million, is one of the largest cities in the Western
hemisphere.

We can distinguish two subtypes according to the following examples:

1- Attributive restrictive relative clauses: they limit (restrict) the semantics of the antecedent.
They are essential to the meaning and structure of the sentence, and could not be eliminated.

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than
the one that comes after it.

Restrictive clauses are meant to distinguish those members of a specific class which has the property
designated by the speaker ( in the following example, we ask the question ‘which generation?) from those
members which do not have this property. Look at the following examples:

They have two children who go to school. (they may have more than two children).

They have two children, who go to school.

2- Restrictive clauses qualifying a personal antecedent are joined by means of relative pronouns (who,
whom, whose, that)

He is the sort of person that/who never goes back on his promises.

We need someone who/that can handle the matter with discretion.

However, if the antecedent is more definite or particularized, ‘who’ would be the best choice

The uncle who came to see us yesterday is my mother’s younger brother.

 3- Restrictive clauses qualifying a non-personal antecedent are joined by means of ‘that, which,
whose, when, where, why..’

She moved to the town where she was born.

That’s the reason why…………..

**** the choice between that/which:

The president will do all that lay in his power to help the victims. (antecedent is an indefinite pronoun)

The first city that was built in that era was to receive civilians and refugees. (the antecedent is qualified
by an ordinal number)

4- Restrictive clauses are the only type of attributive clauses that can be joined both syndetically and
asyndetically. If the antecedent is not the subject of the restrictive clause, the relative ‘that’ is often
omitted.

That was the only solution I could come up with.

Was the student you spoke to earlier the best performer of the year/ class?

5- Attributive non-restrictive relative clauses do not restrict the meaning of the antecedent;
rather, they provide some additional information about it (it could be a person or a thing). They are
not essential to the structure of the sentence and could be left out.

I’m reading a book about Helen Keller, who contributed to the history of the US.

My friend was late, which surprised me.

In my class there are only advanced students, most of whom are from the south of the country.

- Non-restrictive clauses are vaguely connected with the main clause, and usually separated by
commas
6- Non-restrictive clauses are always joined syndetically, by means of relative pronouns or adverbs.
Like restrictive clauses, non-restrictive clauses can be preceded by prepositions:

Mr John, with who my neighbor played football yesterday, is a prominent lawyer.

Exercise: combine each pair of sentences into a complex sentence with an attributive appositive clause.
Example: I insisted that taxes should be raised. They disputed my view. They disputed my view that taxes
should be raised.

1. Some people say that benefits will be curtailed. We tried to dispel this notion.
2. Art should express noble feelings . this idea is shared by many.

3. He believes that the earth is flat. Nothing can shake his belief.

4. Her family isn’t wealthy. She just created this erroneous impression.

5. The television is harmful to children. The principal expressed this firm conviction.

6. Her husband has been promoted to manager. Have you heard this new?

7. She wanted her estate to be divided evenly. She left instructions to her lawyer.

8. The poet has returned to this country. We have information about it.

9. We received an urgent message. It said that we were to return at once.

10. I suspected that he was guilty. These events confirmed my strong suspicion.

11. The poet has returned to this country. We have information about it.

Exercise 2: in the following sentence identify the restrictive and non-restrictive clauses:

1. There is a student in my class who is too conscious about the necessity to improve his language.

2. Mahatma Gandhi who studied law in England led India’s freedom movement.

3. I did my undergrad in Boston where some of the top universities are based.

4. Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others.

5. The house where no one has lived for years looks like a ghost house.