Just a side note on this kind of example: it might be a very handy
one for getting students started on a discussion of commas and parentheses as
alternate ways to mark non-restrictive info:
Egbert, a devotee of Shakespeare, whose birthday was
yesterday, . . .
Egbert (a devotee of Shakespeare, whose birthday was
yesterday) . . .
Egbert, a devotee of Shakespeare (whose birthday was yesterday) . .
.
I’ve used “If you can put it in parenthesis and it looks
right, it’s probably non-restrictive” as an rule of thumb in my
classes, but that doesn’t address why you might want to use one
kind of punctuation instead of another.
---- Bill Spruiell
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bruce
Despain
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 3:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: question on a relative clause
There is an ambiguity in Dick’s example depending on who
had the birthday, Egbert or Shakespeare. If it was S’s birthday,
the non-restrictive relative clause is included in the appositive phrase.
If it was E’s birthday, the non-restrictive relative clause is parallel
to and separate from the appositive. A possibly better illustration of an
included clause would be the one in the following, where the clause modifies
the whole phrase, not just S.:
Egbert, a devotee of Shakespeare, which are quite numerous even
today, . . .
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dick
Veit
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 12:11 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: question on a relative clause
On Fri, Apr 24, 2009 at 11:41 AM, Scott Woods <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
|
Could a
non-restrictive noun phrase appositive include a non-restrictive relative
clause element as a postheadword modifier? Scott Woods |
Is this what you mean?
Egbert, a devotee of Shakespeare, whose birthday was
yesterday, ...
Dick Veit
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