SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF RELATIVE CLAUSES
WITH REFERENCE TO JOHN GREEN’S NOVEL
LOOKING FOR ALASKA
NI KADEK YUNIANTARI
1201305062
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND CULTURE
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank to God the Almighty, Ida Sang Hyang
Widhi Wasa for His blessing and grace, this undergraduate thesis could be
completed. This thesis was written with the aim to fulfill one of the requirements
for obtaining bachelor degree at the English Department, Faculty of Letters and
Culture, Udayana University. In writing this thesis, I have got so much help and
support from many parties therefore I would like to thank for those who helped
me directly and indirectly.
I would like to acknowledge my greatest gratitude to my first supervisor
Drs. I Nyoman Udayana, M.Litt, Ph.D. and my second supervisor I Nyoman
Aryawibawa, S.S., M.A., Ph.D., for their constant encouragement and insightful
comments and advices throughout the process in completing this thesis. My
sincere thanks also go to Putu Ayu Asti Senja Pratiwi, S.S., M.Hum. as my
academic supervisor for her unflagging willingness to advice, assist and
accompany me during my academic years.
I also owe important thanks to the following: Prof. Dr. Ni Luh Sutjiati
Beratha, M.A., the Dean of Faculty of Letters and Culture, Udayana University;
Dra. Ni Luh Ketut Mas Indrawati, Dip. TEFL., M.A., the Head of English
Department; and all of my lectures in English Department.
Moreover, I would like to give my special gratitude to my beloved parents
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am in debt in very many ways. Finally my appreciations and whishes go to all
Sasing class 2012 for their friendship.
I hope this paper will be useful for those who may need the information of
syntactic structure on relative clauses. I realize this paper is far from perfect due to
my lack of knowledge and experience in doing academic research, therefore, any
comment and suggestion will be highly appreciated.
Denpasar, January 2016
iii ABSTRACT
The undergraduate thesis entitled Syntactic Structure of Relative Clauses
with Reference to John Green’s Novel “Looking for Alaska” was focused on the analysis of Relative Clause, especially in structure and types of relative clauses. The aims of this study were to describe the types and analyze the syntactic structure of relative clause found in the novel entitled Looking for Alaska by John Green in 2005.
The analysis of the structure of relative clause in this paper is based on a theory of phrase structure rule by Wekker and Haegeman (1985) in their book entitled A Modern Course in English Syntax and supported by Wh-movement theory by Haegeman (1994) in her book entitled Introduction to Government and Binding Theory 2nd Edition and the analysis of the types is based on a theory by Quirk et al. (1985) in their book A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. The analysis of the data was presented using tree diagram and phrase structure rule.
The analysis in this study showed that all the types of relative clause were found in the data. Those are restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses which are introduced by relative pronounwho, which, whom, whose, that, zero, or by a phrase which contains a relative pronoun such as: for which, to which etc. In terms of function, relative clauses may function as subject and object which provides the information of the preceding noun as antecedent or gives additional information to the preceding noun. Moreover, the analysis of this study also showed that wh-movement was applied in the structure of relative clauses.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOLEDGEMENTS..……… i
ABSTRACT……… iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS……….. iv
ABBREVIATIONS……….... vii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Study………...………. 1
1.2 Problemof Study………..……… 3
1.3 Aims of Study……….……….. 3
1.4 Scope of Discussion……….………. 4
1.5 Research Methods……….………...…. 4
1.5.1 Data Source………..….. 5
1.5.2 Methods and Techniques of Collecting Data………... 5
1.5.3 Methods and Techniques of Analyzing Data………... 6
CHAPTER II. LITERARY REVIEWS, CONCEPTS AND THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Literary Reviews……….….. 7
2.2 Concepts……….……... 11
2.2.1 Syntax………. 11
v
CHAPTER III. SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF RELATIVE CLAUSES WITH REFERENCE TO JOHN GREEN’S NOVEL
vi
CHAPTER IV. CONCLUSION………...………..….. 53
vii
ABBREVIATIONS
Adj : Adjective
Adv : Adverb
Adj.P : Adjective Phrase
Adv.P : Adverb Phrase
Det : Determiner
i : Index
N : Noun
NP : Noun Phrase
P : Preposition
PP : Prepositional Phrase
Rel : Relative pronoun
S : Sentence
Spec : Specifier
S' : Sentence-bar
ti : Coindex Trace
V : Verb
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
One of the main aspects of languagebesides semantic, pragmatic, and
phonology is syntax. Syntax is the way that word and phrases are put together to
form a sentence in a language (Hornby,2010:1515). In short, syntax is the
relationship of words and phrases within a sentence. A sentence itself is a
linguistic unit that consists a group of words that are grammatically linked. It is a
set of words that express a complete thought. Sentences have to follow a certain
structural rules in order to make sense because we cannot just throw any words
together to make a sentence (Morenberg, 1997). A sentence is composed by a
phrase (a small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit) and a
clause (a unit of grammatical organization below the sentence in rank and in
traditional grammar is said to consist of subject and predicate) (Hornby, 1995).
Sentences are either simple or multiple, in which a simple sentence
consists of an independent clause whereas a multiple sentence contains more than
one clause. Multiple sentences are compound or complex (Quirk et al., 1985:719). A compound sentence consists of two or more coordinated main clauses in which
the main clauses of a compound sentence have equivalent function. A complex
sentence is the same as a simple sentence which consists of only one main clause,
but a complex sentence also has one or more subordinate clauses functioning as an
one main clause or an independent clause which isjoined by one or more
subordinate clauses. Independent clause is a clause that can stand by itself: for
example: I am a student , whereas, subordinate clause or also known as
dependent clause is a clause that cannot stand by itself as a sentence. A
subordinate clause served to modify an independent clause or served as a
component. There are some different types of dependent clause, such as: noun
clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses.
Relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun or a noun
phrase. Relative clause is introduced by a relative pronoun such as: who, which, whom, whose, that and zero, for example: It was wrinkled like an old woman
who’d spent her youth sunbathing( Green, 2005 : 34) the relative clause in that
sentence which is in bold italic is introduced by a relative pronoun who. There
are two types of relative clause: restrictive and non-restrictive relative clause.
Restrictive relative clause isa type of relative clause which modifies its head word
meaning: for example: I hated sports, and I hated people who played them
(Green, 2005:45) and non-restrictive relative clause the other type of relative
clause which only provides supplementary information for example: Hyde talked about the Gospel of Mark, which I hadn’t read until the day before. (Green,
2005 : 69).
The structure of sentence with relative clause is more complicated than a
simple sentence. Some English learners are still confused about it. It is very
important to English learners to have a clear knowledge about a relative clause in
Based on the explanation above, the syntactic structures of relative clause
is a very interesting topic to be analyzed, therefore it was chosen as the topic of
this study. The examples of the relative clauses that were analyzed were taken
from the novel entitled Looking for Alaska by John Green. This novel was chosen since it has complete data in the language used especially in relative clauses.
1.2 Problems of Study
There are some problems that can be discussed in this study, those are:
1. What types of relative clause are found in the novel Looking for Alaskaby John Green?
2. How are the syntactic structures of relative clause in the novel Looking for Alaska by John Green?
1.3 Aims of Study
In relation to the problems of this study, theaims of this study are as
follows:
1. To describe the types of relative clause found in the novel Looking for Alaska by John Green.
2. To analyze the syntactic structures of relative clause in John Green’s
1.4 Scope of Discussion
The analysis of John Green’s novel Looking for Alaska focuses on the syntactic structure and types of relative clause. Based on the problems that have
been mentioned, the scopes of discussion in this study are:
1. The types of relative clause are restrictive relative clause and non-restrictive
relative clause. The clause is introduced by relative pronoun: who, which, whom, whose, that, zero, or by a phrase which contains a relative pronoun such as: for which, to whom, etc.
2. The structure of the relative clause is based on a theory by Wekker and
Haegeman (1985) in their book A Modern Course in English Syntax.
1.5 Research Methods
Method is a certain procedure, a regular or systematic way for
accomplishing something. The research method contains some explanations of
how this study will tackle the research problems. It will provide a description
about the work plan and some activities necessary in completing this research.
The research method used in this research includes: data source, method and
techniques of collecting data, and method and techniques of analyzing data. Those
1.5.1Data Source
The data of this study was taken from the novel entitled Looking for Alaska by John Green. This novel was first published on March 2005. Looking for Alaska is the first young adult novel by John Green: this novel is about a guy
who obsesses in memorizing famous people’s last word, named Miles Halter. He
comes from Florida, but he leaves his home to attend a Culver Creek High School
in Alabama. In Culver Creek, he has a roommate named Chip Martin who prefers
to be called “Captain” and who gives Miles nicknamed “Pudge”. Here Miles also
meets Alaska Young, girl he falls in love with, and a Japanese guy named
Takumi, both of them are Captain’s friends. They have gone to all interesting
things together, searching for answers about life, “how people can go out of the
labyrinth”. However, when they do not even get the answers yet, Alaska dies in a
fatal car crash. This novel was chosen as the data source because it contains some
relevant data with the problems which were needed in this discussion. There were
many relative clauses found in this novel.
1.5.2 Methods and Techniques of Collecting Data
The data were collected using documentation method: by finding and
analyzing from the documents, in form of written or electronic documents. The
data was collected through reading and note taking from the data source.
The techniques of collecting data can be described, as follows:
1. The whole novel was read carefully to find out the relative clauses.
2. The relative clauses found in the novel were noted (note taking).
1.5.3Methods and Techniques of Analyzing Data
The method used in analyzing the data is descriptive qualitative method.
The data were analyzed based on the theoretical framework of this study. The
analysis was focused on the types and syntactic structure of the relative clauses.
There are some steps which were done in the techniques of analyzing data,
and those are as follows:
1. Checking the note taking of the relative clauses which had been selected as
samples of this study.
2. The relative clauses which had been selected were classified accordance to
their types.
3. Analyzing the types of the relative clauses, each type was given a
description and further explanation.
4. The grammatical structures of those clauses were analyzedbased on a
theory ofPhrase structure rule by Wekker and Haegman (1985) in their
book A Modern Course in English Syntax. There were 5 sentences which consist of relative clause that were chosen as the data in analyzing the
syntactic structures of relative clause. Those sentences will be presented
using phrase structure rule and tree diagram. The phrase structure rule is
7 2.1 Literary Reviews
There are some studies from some previous students which are used as
reviews in this study. Those studies have relevant topic with this study which will
analyze about syntactic structure of relative clause.
The first study was an undergraduate thesis “The Syntactic Function of
Relative Clause with Reference to the Short Story The Counterfeiter By Yasushi
Inoue” by Komang Helianti (2008) which analyzed the kind or types of relative
clause which is found in the short story “The Counterfeiter” by Yasushi Inoue and
described their syntactic function. The main theory usedwas the theory which was
proposed by Quirk et al (1985) in his book A Comprehensive Grammar of The English Language. Her study focuses on identifying the types of the relative clause and their syntactic function, in which one type of relative clause has more
than one syntactic function, for example: restrictive clause has a function as
subject/object of verb/prepositional object etc. Her study is relevant with this
study since both analyzed the types of relative clause and in analyzing the types
both her study and this study use Quirk et al’s theory (1985). The differences are: her study was analyzing the syntactic function whereas, this study analyzed the
syntactic structure, and both also used different data source.
The second studywas an undergraduate thesis by Saddaya Utama (2012)
“The Syntactic Function of the Relative Clause with reference to “The Language
or relative clause and to describe their syntactic function. The main theory used in
analyzing the data was a theory which was proposed by Quirk et al (1985) in their book A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Besides that, some supporting theories were also used in analyzing the data, such as: A University English Grammar by Randolph Quirk (1973) and a theory by A.J. Thomson and A.V. Martinet (1986) Partical English Grammar.Moreover, tree diagram was alsoused in describing the function of relative clause. His study is relevant with
thisstudy since both analyze the types of relative clause and also use the same
theory, Quirk et al’s theory (1985), in analyzing it. The differences are: first his study and this study were used different data source which cause a different result,
secondhisstudy analyzed the syntactic function of relative clause, whereas this
study analyzed the syntactic structure of relative clause.
The third study was an undergraduate thesis “The Analysis of Syntactic
Structure in the Relative Clause with Reference to Steinbeck’s The Pearl” by
Marlyn Ariesta (2014) which aims to identify the patterns, analyzed the structure
and classified the types of relative clause found in the novel “The Pearl” by
Steinbeck. Chomsky’s theory (1971) and promoted by Murphy’s argument (1985)
was usedin identifying the pattern of relative clause found in the data source,
whereas, in analyzing the syntactic structure Chomsky’s theory (1971) Generative
Transformation in his book Syntactic Structure was used and Radford’s theory in his book Transformational Syntax: A Student Guide to Chomsky’s Extended
Theory (1988) was also used in analyzing the types of relative. Besides of those theories, some other theories were also used, those are: the theory proposed by
(1982) about the feature of relative clause, Murphy (1985) about kinds of relative
pronoun and etc. The result of her study was presented qualitatively and
descriptively each of the patterns found from the data were explained clearly. The
tree diagram which was used in indicating the constituent structure of the relative
clause also drew clearly which made the analysis understandable. In the end of her
studywere also provided appendices of the list of relative clauses found in the data
source. Her study is relevant with this study, since both identified the types and
analyzed structure of relative clause. The differences are: first, from the theory
used to analyze the types of relative clause, in which her study used Radford’s
theory (1988) in analyzing the types of the relative clause whereas this study used
Quirk et al’s theory (1985) and also in analyzing the structure of relative clause her study used Chomsky’s theory (1971) Generative Transformation in his book
Syntactic Structure, whereas this study used a phrase structure rule theory by Wekker and Haegeman (1985) in their book entitled A Modern Course in English Syntax and a supporting theory, Wh-movement by Haegamen (1994) in her book
Introduction to Government & Binding Theory 2ndEdition . Other differences, her study analyzed the pattern which was not analyzed in this study.
The fourth study was an international journal article entitled Discourse Structure and Relative Clause Processing which was written by Mak, Vonk, and Schriefers (2006). This article discussed about two experiments: first, about
relative clauses with a personal pronoun in the relative clause, and the second
experiment was about the discourse status of the NP in the relative clause was
manipulated: either it was not present in the preceding context, or it was the
object-relative clauses, in line with the assumption that personal pronouns refer to a
discourse topic and are thus topicworthy. And their second experiment showed
that when the NP in the relative clause refers to the discourse topic, the difficulty
of object-relative clauses is reduced, in comparison with relative clauses with an
NP that is new in the discourse, even in the absence of any explicit cue in the
relative clause itself. Those experiments show that discourse factors guide
processing at the sentence level. This article is relevant with this study even Syntax Part II. This article concerned about the way in which the relative clause is syntactically related with the modified phrase. In the conclusion of her study,
she stated that relative clause constitute an extremely intriguing empirical domain,
both because of the complexity of the data and of the theoretical relevance of the
construction (especially with the respect to the syntactic-semantic interference).
This article is relevant tothis study since the writer in this article also discussed
about relative clause and also the relation between generative clause and relative
clause.
This study aims to identify the types of relative clause found in the data
source and also analyzed the syntactic structure of relative clause which was
were found in the data source. The data source in this study was different from the
previous studies. This study used a novel by John Green entitled Looking for Alaska, which first published on March, 2005, as the data source. This study used some theories, those are: phrase structure rules by Wekker and Haegman in their
book A Modern Course in English Syntax (1985), Wh-movement theory by Haegeman (1994) in her book Introduction to Government & Binding Theory 2nd
Edition as asupporting theory, and a theory about relative clause by Quirk et al
(1985) in their book A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.
2.2 Concept
The concepts in this study are about relative clause and their syntactic
structure. There are five concepts which were discussed in this study, such as:
syntax, syntactic structure, clause, relative clause and wh-movement.
2.2.1Syntax
According to Chomsky (1957) in his book Syntactic Structure, syntax is the study of the principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in
particular languages. Syntax is the branch of linguistics that concentrates on the
formation of sentences (Haegeman 2006:4). Syntax means sentence construction:
how words group together to make phrases and sentences (Tallerman,
2011:1).Bryan Voigt (2009:8) stated, syntax is a strategy, an arrangement of
constituent parts, the manner in which the fundament and its dependent adjuncts,
2.2.2Syntactic Structure
The syntactic structure is one of the first serious attempts on the part of
linguist to construct within the tradition of theory-construction: a comprehensive
theory of language which may be understood in the same sense that a chemical,
biological theory is ordinarily understood by the experts in those fields (Lees,
1957)
According to Yule (1998) syntactic structure consist of nor nothing
morpheme that are combined in the same order as they would be if they were
separate words in corresponding construction.
2.2.3Clause
According to Elson and Pickett (1967:64) a clause consists of subject, and
predicate. Based on Van Valin (1997:29) a clause is a syntactic unit composed of
the core and periphery. Clause is a group of words having its own subject and
predicate but forming only a part of a compound or complex sentence.
A complex sentence consists of a main clause and one or more subordinate
clause. Main clause is a clause that can stand by itself, whereas a subordinate
clause is a clause that cannot stand by itself. According to Quirk (1985:1047) on
the basis of their potential function there are several major categories of
subordinate clauses, those are: Nominal Clauses, Adverbial Clauses, Relative
2.2.4Relative Clause
A relative clause is a clause that started with relative pronoun and it is a
clause that follows the noun immediately (Klingemann 1987:16). Relative clause
shows which or what kind of person or thing is intended by the speaker (Murphy,
1985). Quirk et al (1985:1244-1245) distinguish relative clause into two types: restrictive and nonrestrictive relative clause.
Relative clauses are typically found after a noun phrase and provide some
information about the person or thing indicated by that noun phrase (Yule,
1998:240). For example:
I see a girl who loves book( Green, 2005 : 83)
The main clause of the example above is I see a girl, and the relative
clause is who loves book. The relative clause who loves book in the example
above provides some information about the noun phrase a girl. The relative clause
shows that a girlthat being discussed in that sentence is a girl who loves book.
2.2.5Wh-movement
Haegeman (1994:305) distinguished three types of movement, those are:
headed movement, wh-movement and NP-movement. Headed-movement is the
movement of auxiliaries, wh-movement is the movement of wh-constituent and
NP-movement is the movement associated with passive in which the NP move to
an empty subject position. The landing site of movement is an empty position.
Haegeman (1994) stated that the relative clause is a result of
wh-movement. Wh-movement is the movement of wh-constituent to the specifier of
Haegeman argued that the wh-movement leaves a trace in its original position that
coindexed with the moved element. A trace is an empty category that occupies a
position in syntactic structure. It occupies an empty position which is left behind
when some element are moved.
2.3 Theoretical Framework
Theoretical framework is about the theories which were used in analyzing
the data. In this study there are two things to be discussed: structure of relative
clauses, types of relative clauses.
2.3.1Structure of Relative Clause
The structure of relative clauses found in the novel Looking for Alaska by John Green will be analyzed using Phrase Structure Rule byWekker and
Haegeman (1985) in their book entitledA Modern Course in English Syntax.
According to Wekker and Haegeman(1985:11) Phrase structure rule is a
rule which is used to sum up the system of expanding one unit into other units.
These are four Phrase Structure rules:
S ScoordS
S NP VP
VP VNP
The last bracket indicates that NP may be expanded or rewritten as either DetN or
N.
Moreover, according to them all NP have one head N. The head N usually
accompanied by some elements that placed either before the head or after the
head. The elements that placed before the head are determiners (the, a, this, that, my, etc.) besides it, it also may be preceded by adjective phrases which is said as premodifier. On the other hand, the elements that placed after the head N have
functions as postmodifier, for example:
A girl who loves book
The head of the NP above is girl which is preceded by a determiner a and followed by a relative clause who loves book which functions as postmodifier.
According to Wekker and Haegeman (1985) the clause that follows the head N in
a NP and has function as postmodifier labeled as �̅ (S-bar) or S' (S-prime). �̅ or S'
is a unit that contain the subordinator and subordinate clause, so the constituent of
S' will be as follows:
Based on the explanation above the NP structure are as follows:
NP Det N S' ,or
NP N S'
S' Rel S
The Rel in S-bar (S') is relative pronoun
Relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun or noun phrase.
Relative clause functions as postmodifier since it immediately follows the noun or
phrase structure rules and the postmodifier structure, the structure of relative
clause is as follows:
S NP VP
VP V NP
NP Det N S' or
NP N S'
S' Rel S
According to Haegeman (1994) relative clause formation is a result of
movement. Moreover, she stated that relative clause is derived via wh-movement.
Based on her explanation, relative clause formation involves wh-movement.
Therefore, Haegeman’s theory of movement in her book Introduction to Government & Binding Theory 2nd Edition will also used as a supporting theory in analyzing the syntactic structure of relative clauses. It will be elaborated more in
the example 1 below:
1. I see a girlwho loves books. (Green, 2005 :83)
`The structure of the sentence above is as follows:
S NP1VP1
NP1 N
VP1 V NP
NP Det N S'
S' Rel S
S NP2 VP2
VP2 V NP
NP N
The phrase structure rule, which used above, shows how the constituents
are ordered. This rule is used for mapping the phrase of a syntactic structure into a
tree diagram.
The structure of the sentence above is also presented by tree diagram. The
tree diagramhas a purpose to explain clearly and explicitly the phrase structure in
grammatical, word classes, constituent and word formation. The tree diagram of
S
NP1 VP1
V NP
N Det N S'
Rel S
NP2 VP2
V NP
N
I see a girl whoi ti loves books
Wh-movement
From the tree diagram above it can be seen that the relative clause which is
embedded to its antecedent a girl who loves books is clearly an NP which is filled by a girl modified by a restrictive relative clause (S') who loves books. This S-bar (S') in turn contains a wh-pronoun who, followed by an S —loves books. Here is the base structure of the example above will be:
According to Haegeman (1994) when wh-pronoun moves beyond its own
clause, within S of S' (its original position is marked by —), to the higher position
Rel of S', it seems that wh-movement has been applied to move it from its original
position to its superficial position. Moreover, she stated that the wh-movement
here is treated as substitution, when the wh-phrase fills a hitherto unoccupied
position, in this situation, wh-movement is like NP-movement.
The relative wh-pronoun who is moved from the lower position: NP of S within the S-bar to the higher position: Rel of the S-bar leaving a coindex trace in
its original position (ti), the movement is indicated schematically below:
[SI see [NP a girl [S'whoi[Sti loves books]]]] Wh-movement
The sentence above I see a girl who loves books consists of two clause: I see a girl as the main clause, and the subordinate clause a girl loves books, however the subject of the subordinate clause a girl is moved from its original position [NP, S of S'] to the higher position [Rel, S'] and changed into a
wh-pronoun who.
2.3.2Types of Relative Clause
relative clauses: restrictive relative clause and non-restrictive relative
clause(1985).
2.3.2.1Restrictive Relative Clause
A restrictive relative clause is a clause that aims to modify the meaning of
its head word. Restrictive relative clauses are closely connected to their
antecedent, and denote a limitation on the reference of the antecedent (Quirk et al, 1973). This clause gives detailed information defining the noun that comes before
it (its head word), so the sentence would not make sense without this clause. A
restrictive relative clause usually introduced by: who, which, whom and whose, that and zero or by a phrase which contains a relative pronoun such as: for which, to whom, etc. and it is not put in commas.
For example: The lunch discussion centered on the girl whowas supposed
to have been Alaska’s roommate.(Green, 2005 : 23)
From the example above, the characteristic of relative clause can be seen
as follows:
a. The relative clause cannot be omitted. The constituent which is in bold italic
on the example above is the relative clause. It shows that the relative clause
in that sentence restrictive the reference of the noun. If the relative clause in
that sentence were omitted, the sentence could be: “The lunch discussion
centered on the girl”.That sentence did not provide a clear perception, since
the sentence did not explain which head of the clause had been discussed. If
the sentence use the relative clause “The lunch discussion centered on the
of the head of the clause being discussed which in this case is the girl was limited to the girl who was supposed to have been Alaska’s roommate.” b. Restrictive clause is marked by a relative pronoun or an adverb which
related to the main of the noun. In the example above the relative clause is
introduced by relative pronoun who.
2.3.2.1Non-restrictive Relative Clause
Non-restrictive relative clause is a clause that aims to provide additional
information, so this clause does not have a big effect to the meaning of the
sentence which is different from the restrictive clause. Non-restrictive relative
clauses are parenthetic comments which usually describe, but do not further
define the antecedent (Quirk et al., 1973). Non-restrictive clause usually introduced by relative pronoun, such as: who, which, whom and whose or by a phrase which contains a relative pronoun such as: for which, to whom, etc. non-restrictive relative clause cannot be introduced by relative pronoun that and the relative pronoun of the non-restrictive relative clause can never be omitted. A non-restrictive relative clause usually has a comma before them. For example:
1. I’d been unable to care about anything else, not the van Gogh poster and not
video games and not even my class schedule, which the Eagle had bought
by that morning. (Green, 2005 : 21)
2. I blinked a couple times and looked up at the Colonel, who was standing
between the couch and the COFFE TABLE. (Green, 2005 : 29)
Based on the example above, it can be seen that the non-restrictive clause
a. Even though the relative clause was omitted, the reference of the noun
phrase was still clear. For example:
1. I’d been unable to care about anything else, not the van Gogh poster and
not video games and not even my class schedule.
2. I blinked a couple times and looked up at the Colonel.
In the sentence of 1a.even the relative clause was omitted the reference of
the antecedent of the relative clause, which in this case is my schedule, is
still clear. As the same as 1a the sentence of 2a the reference of the noun
phrase or the antecedent of the relative clause is still clear. The antecedent
The Colonelis still clear even without the relative clause since based on the context also, there is only one person in the novel that have a nick name
Colonel, so it will not lead to an ambiguity.
b. As the same as the restrictive relative clause, this clause is also marked by a
relative pronoun or adverb. However, unlike the relative pronoun in the
restrictive relative clause that aims to limit the reference of the noun phrase,
the relative pronoun in non-restrictive relative clause just aims to provide
additional information and does not affect much to the sentence.
c. Non-restrictive relative clause is usually marked by comma.
