Defining and non-defining adjective clauses

anthony

剛剛看完來年 Form 3 的英文課本，發現有一個問題：什麼是 Defining adjective clauses 及 non-defining adjective clauses 呢？

以下就是我的 Form 3 英文課本的問題：
Read the sentences. Decide if the adjective clauses are defining or non-defining. Then, add necessary commas.
1. Sally Lee said the monster which was on the beach was horrible.
2. The scientists who studied the Wildman thought that it was a kind of Neanderthal Man.
3. The Mantis Prawn which is very dangerous can stop the heart in four minutes.
5. With some species of animals it's the males who get pregnant.
6. The Dodo whose appearance looked loke a huge chicken lived on earth hundreds of years ago.
7. The boy who saw Yeti lived on a mountain in Nepal.

Cerain

有冇example ga???
冇好難明ga bor...
老實講，如果本野冇example ge wa，我就連adv. 定 adj.都5係好讖分...
5係5讖，真實都係學左5記得者...>o<

1. Sally Lee said the monster ,which was on the beach, was horrible.
2. The scientists ,who studied the Wildman, thought that it was a kind of Neanderthal Man.
3. The Mantis Prawn ,which is very dangerous, can stop the heart in four minutes.
5. With some species of animals, it's the males who get pregnant.
6. The Dodo ,whose appearance looked like a huge chicken, lived on earth hundreds of years ago.
7. The boy ,who saw Yeti, lived on a mountain in Nepal.

其實我得 Form 2 ga ja，5知d (,)擺得岩5岩ga...@o@

1.non-defining adjective clauses
2.non-defining adjective clauses
3.Defining adjective clauses
5.Defining adjective clauses
6.non-defining adjective clauses
7.non-defining adjective clauses

thirdwould

你真好學......

Cerain

p.s. 你 gum 快買到書ge...齊未ar???><

Royal

adj係形容一樣野
例如: There is a clever boy!
--clever

adv係形容一樣動作
例如: You done it very well
--well

（唔知有冇錯=v="我本身英文都幾屎下）

anthony

Originally posted by Cerain at 2005-7-22 12:52 PM:
p.s. 你 gum 快買到書ge...齊未ar???><

我大約一半的書(15本)都是買二手書，所以除了一些作業、改版的教科書外，其餘已經買了。

zubat

Defining adjective clauses are used to describe an unspecified noun. NO commas are needed.
Non-defining adjective clasuses are used to provide further information of a specified noun (e.g. proper noun). Commas should be put in front of and at the end of the adjective clause. The adjective clasuse in this case can be omitted while the meaning of the remaining sentence is still clear.

1. Sally Lee said the monster which was on the beach was horrible.
(Since we do not know which "monster", so we use the adjective clause "which was on the beach" to decribe it, and no commas are needed. This is a defining  adjective clause.)
2. The scientists who studied the Wildman thought that it was a kind of Neanderthal Man.
(Similar to 1, we do not know which scientists. Defining adj clause.)
3. The Mantis Prawn, which is very dangerous, can stop the heart in four minutes.
("Mantis Prawn" is a proper noun, so the adj clause "which is very dangerous" is just to provide further information. We still know "Mantis Prawn" if the adj clause is omitted, so it is a non-defining clause. Commas are placed in front of and at the end of the adj clause.)
5. With some species of animals it's the males who get pregnant.
(In this case, the adj clause "who get pregnant" is used to complement the meaning of the sentence. Without the adj clause, this sentence is meaningless, so it is a defining adj clause. NO commas are needed.)
6. The Dodo, whose appearance looked loke a huge chicken, lived on earth hundreds of years ago.
(Similar to 4, "Dodo" is a proper noun. Non-defining adj clause.)
7. The boy who saw Yeti lived on a mountain in Nepal.
(Similar to 1, we do not know which boy we are talking about, so the adj clause "who saw Yeti" help us know which boy we are describing. Defining adj clause.)

anthony

Originally posted by zubat at 2005-7-23 12:32 PM:
Defining adjective clauses are used to describe an unspecified noun. NO commas are needed.
Non-defining adjective clasuses are used to provide further information of a specified noun (e.g.proper noun) ...

What is a "proper noun"? What is the difference between a "proper noun" and other sorts of nouns?

zubat

Originally posted by anthony at 2005-7-23 06:37 PM:


What is a "proper noun"? What is the difference between a "proper noun" and other sorts of nouns?

A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place or object that is spelt with a capital letter.
e.g. Mr. Chan, Peter, Boundary Street, Queen's Road, Ocean Park, the White House

The other nouns are called common noun.

[ Last edited by zubat on 2005-7-23 at 09:04 PM ]

Cerain

Originally posted by 車里厘 at 2005-7-22 01:46 PM:
adj係形容一樣野
例如: There is a clever boy!
--clever

adv係形容一樣動作
例如: You done it very well
--well

（唔知有冇錯=v="我本身英文都幾屎下）

乜5係"very"形容"well"咩??? ->>錯左5好怪我...=o=||b