Restrictive Clause

This article is not about the legal concept of a restrictive covenant.

Should one use "that" or "which"? In syntax, the concepts of restrictive clause and non-restrictive clause can perhaps most easily be explained by contrasting two examples:

The Washington Monument, which is 555 feet tall, is the tallest building in Washington.

The house that was recently built is Senator Smith's house.

The clause "which is 555 feet tall", does not distinguish this "Washington Monument" from other "Washington Monuments", but the clause "that was recently built" does distinguish this house from other houses. That is what it means to say that the latter clause is restrictive and the former is not. Omitting a non-restrictive clause results in a meaningful and correct sentence; that is not true of restrictive clauses.

Some writers follow a normative rule that "which" should be used in non-restrictive clauses and "that" should be used in restrictive clauses. In this usage, the phrase

the house that is green

does not mean the same thing as

the house, which is green.

The former says which house is being referred to, the latter presupposes that that is already established.

Most writers do not adhere to this rule, perhaps considering it unnecessary to be explicit about the distinction.

Modern Translations: Restrictive Clause

Anagrams: Restrictive Clause

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-c-e-e-e-i-i-l-r-r-s-s-t-t-u-v"
	-4 letters: resuscitative.
	-5 letters: circularises, criticasters, recirculates, recultivates, restrictives, secularistic, secularities, surrealistic.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Alternative Orthography: Restrictive Clause

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

52 65 73 74 72 69 63 74 69 76 65 43 6C 61 75 73 65

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01010010 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01000011 01101100 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#82 &#101 &#115 &#116 &#114 &#105 &#99 &#116 &#105 &#118 &#101 &#32 &#67 &#108 &#97 &#117 &#115 &#101

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0052 0065 0073 0074 0072 0069 0063 0074 0069 0076 0065 0043 006C 0061 0075 0073 0065

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Language		Translations for "restrictive clause"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Turkish		tanımlayıcı cümlecik, kısıtlayıcı yasa maddesi. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Restrictive Clause

Crosswords: Restrictive Clause

Specialty Definition: Restrictive clause

Modern Translations: Restrictive Clause

Turkish

Anagrams: Restrictive Clause

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Alternative Orthography: Restrictive Clause

52 65 73 74 72 69 63 74 69 76 65 43 6C 61 75 73 65

01010010 01100101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01000011 01101100 01100001 01110101 01110011 01100101

&#82 &#101 &#115 &#116 &#114 &#105 &#99 &#116 &#105 &#118 &#101 &#32 &#67 &#108 &#97 &#117 &#115 &#101

0052 0065 0073 0074 0072 0069 0063 0074 0069 0076 0065 0043 006C 0061 0075 0073 0065

52718586847569867588712377867878571

Bibliographic Items: "restrictive clause"

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