Essential vs. Non-essential Clauses
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In this video we're going to talk about a very tricky concept. That is Essential versus Non-Essential Clauses. It's tricky. Let's have a look. The boy, who had attended all the lectures, lent me his study notes. That's A.
B, the boy who had attended all the lectures lent me his study notes. Now, besides the commas here, and by reading, which, have you pause here where the commas were, there really isn't to much difference between the two, right? Actually, there's a world of difference, and that's why essential, non-essential clauses is such a difficult concept. So let's look at A, the boy.
We're talking about a specific boy. He lent me his study notes. The person I'm talking to, also knows which boy I'm talking about, so here's a boy, both know it's the boy, there he is. And by mentioning that he had attended all the lectures. I could have just very well said Jim, who had attended all the lectures lent me his study notes.
If I get rid of this, it doesn't really matter. The boy lent me his study notes. It's still this boy over here, his name is Jim. The action here is key. He lent me his study notes. That's our sentence.
And notice how I x it out. Therefore this is Non-essential. Who had attended all the lectures, does not kill the meaning of the sentence. The boy, we know who he is, he lent me his study notes. That's the important thing. Now let's look at B.
The boy who had attended all the lectures lent me his study notes. So we're sitting in class. Bunch of people, sitting in the classroom. That's a girl, this is a boy, this is a boy, this is a boy. And I do not wanna just say oh, any random boy, but I wanna. Say that there is a specific boy out of these many.
The specific one lent me his study notes. We'll call this guy Bob, this guy Paul, and here's Jim. Bob is getting and F. Paul is getting a D minus. Jim is getting an A. Why? Because he's the boy who had attended, all of the lectures, and so this is big.
Because if we get rid of this, and there's more than one boy, the boy lent me his study notes, that's a big difference. If you, if you get Bob's study notes they're gonna be all beurr, gibberish. No one's gonna get anything from those cuz he's an F student. So it's really important, it's essential that we know it is the boy who at, had attended all the lectures.
It's this guy here, Jim, with the A. Therefore when it's out of many we need say which one it is specifically we need a essential clause, and we do not have commas if this is good. We need that clause. When it's non-essential we can drop it. We still know in this case who the boy is, then it is non-essential.
Okay, I think you got it? Let's have a go. The man, whom we had invited to dinner, did not show. Now, there are many men that live in the center of the city, there's a man. You get the idea, my little stick figures. Let's say there's a bunch of these, a bunch of these people.
And, so one of these guys didn't show. Which one? The one we had invited to dinner. It's very specific. It's very important that we have this, therefore this is essential. Why?
Well there's this big guy, he's scary, he carries a chainsaw. Best drawing of a chainsaw, that's horrible, but it's a chainsaw. And it's really scary because he lives in town, and we do not want you to invite him to dinner. Hopefully, he doesn't show up at anyone's house. But, it is important, in an essential clause, that we are specific about the person who did not show, and that's the person we had invited to dinner, let's say we invited this guy.
Otherwise you could be talking about any man. And you definitely do not want the guy with the chainsaw, to show up. Therefore its essential that it was the man, whom we had invited. Now let's look at D. The man, knows that, whom we had once invited to dinner, was moving to Oregon. Here he is, there's a man.
I'll make this guy look a little bit nicer than the other ones. Got a little beret on. Do doo, do doo. And that looks like abstract art now, but anyway, so here he is, there's this man. And at one point let's say on April 5th of 2007. We invited this guy over to dinner.
Oh, yeah I remember that guy. But now, he is moving to Oregon. So it's not any random event, it's a specific man. Which one? Which specific man? It was the one we had once invited to dinner, this man, and now he is the one moving.
Oregon, and so there's only one man in the city, probably, moving to Oregon. It's not like the man in general, could be any man, but it's the one moving to Oregon. And oh, by the way, we had once invited him to dinner. And there you can see that by the way, is the non-essential part. So you can get rid of it.
And its still this guy right here. He's doing something big. He's moving to Oregon. Okay, let's have another go. And you'll notice here now the dreaded that and which. But, we've gone over this in other in other videos and what's great about it now is you can see, understand the difference, between the two by focusing on what is essential and non essential.
Non-essential always matches up with which. Essential always matches up with that. So the ping pong table at three E which is upstairs is broken. Remember what I said about the man? If there's many, many men and we have to figure out oh, it's really important that it's that man, not the crazy guy with the chain saw, that is essential what we have.
But if there's only one, the boy we both know it's that boy. We know there's not three or four other boys. Then it is non-essential. And so, in this case when I say, the ping pong table, which is upstairs, it's not many ping pong tables. I don't have 20 ping pong tables in my home, I have one.
One ping pong table. And now I'm defining it I'm talking about that one ping pong table, which is upstairs, is broken. And so you can see if I got rid of this, it really wouldn't change things too much. The ping pong table's broken. If you come to my house, you have your little red paddle.
You are still not gonna be able to play ping pong. Why? Because the ping table, the ping pong table is broken. And oh, by the way it's upstairs. Now, compare that to F. Now you're coming over with your little racket, and it says the ping pong table that is upstairs is broken.
Now, does that mean you have to go home and cry, cuz you didn't get to play ping pong at my house? Not necessarily, because I'm using that. Which shows that I have more than one ping pong table. Now if you go upstairs you're probably not gonna get to play, because it's broken. But what happens?
Well there are other ones in my house. So we need to use the one in the garage. And there we go. Now we can see how important it is essential. And therefore. We need that because we have more than one ping pong table, and its important we have this one, because its the one that is upstairs that's broken.
And so now that you know that, you can see that there's another one and you get to stay and play ping pong, unlike the first one which ping pong table is simply broken. Who cares? I have one whether its upstairs, downstairs, in the kitchen. Doesn't matter its broken, and you gotta go home.
Read full transcriptB, the boy who had attended all the lectures lent me his study notes. Now, besides the commas here, and by reading, which, have you pause here where the commas were, there really isn't to much difference between the two, right? Actually, there's a world of difference, and that's why essential, non-essential clauses is such a difficult concept. So let's look at A, the boy.
We're talking about a specific boy. He lent me his study notes. The person I'm talking to, also knows which boy I'm talking about, so here's a boy, both know it's the boy, there he is. And by mentioning that he had attended all the lectures. I could have just very well said Jim, who had attended all the lectures lent me his study notes.
If I get rid of this, it doesn't really matter. The boy lent me his study notes. It's still this boy over here, his name is Jim. The action here is key. He lent me his study notes. That's our sentence.
And notice how I x it out. Therefore this is Non-essential. Who had attended all the lectures, does not kill the meaning of the sentence. The boy, we know who he is, he lent me his study notes. That's the important thing. Now let's look at B.
The boy who had attended all the lectures lent me his study notes. So we're sitting in class. Bunch of people, sitting in the classroom. That's a girl, this is a boy, this is a boy, this is a boy. And I do not wanna just say oh, any random boy, but I wanna. Say that there is a specific boy out of these many.
The specific one lent me his study notes. We'll call this guy Bob, this guy Paul, and here's Jim. Bob is getting and F. Paul is getting a D minus. Jim is getting an A. Why? Because he's the boy who had attended, all of the lectures, and so this is big.
Because if we get rid of this, and there's more than one boy, the boy lent me his study notes, that's a big difference. If you, if you get Bob's study notes they're gonna be all beurr, gibberish. No one's gonna get anything from those cuz he's an F student. So it's really important, it's essential that we know it is the boy who at, had attended all the lectures.
It's this guy here, Jim, with the A. Therefore when it's out of many we need say which one it is specifically we need a essential clause, and we do not have commas if this is good. We need that clause. When it's non-essential we can drop it. We still know in this case who the boy is, then it is non-essential.
Okay, I think you got it? Let's have a go. The man, whom we had invited to dinner, did not show. Now, there are many men that live in the center of the city, there's a man. You get the idea, my little stick figures. Let's say there's a bunch of these, a bunch of these people.
And, so one of these guys didn't show. Which one? The one we had invited to dinner. It's very specific. It's very important that we have this, therefore this is essential. Why?
Well there's this big guy, he's scary, he carries a chainsaw. Best drawing of a chainsaw, that's horrible, but it's a chainsaw. And it's really scary because he lives in town, and we do not want you to invite him to dinner. Hopefully, he doesn't show up at anyone's house. But, it is important, in an essential clause, that we are specific about the person who did not show, and that's the person we had invited to dinner, let's say we invited this guy.
Otherwise you could be talking about any man. And you definitely do not want the guy with the chainsaw, to show up. Therefore its essential that it was the man, whom we had invited. Now let's look at D. The man, knows that, whom we had once invited to dinner, was moving to Oregon. Here he is, there's a man.
I'll make this guy look a little bit nicer than the other ones. Got a little beret on. Do doo, do doo. And that looks like abstract art now, but anyway, so here he is, there's this man. And at one point let's say on April 5th of 2007. We invited this guy over to dinner.
Oh, yeah I remember that guy. But now, he is moving to Oregon. So it's not any random event, it's a specific man. Which one? Which specific man? It was the one we had once invited to dinner, this man, and now he is the one moving.
Oregon, and so there's only one man in the city, probably, moving to Oregon. It's not like the man in general, could be any man, but it's the one moving to Oregon. And oh, by the way, we had once invited him to dinner. And there you can see that by the way, is the non-essential part. So you can get rid of it.
And its still this guy right here. He's doing something big. He's moving to Oregon. Okay, let's have another go. And you'll notice here now the dreaded that and which. But, we've gone over this in other in other videos and what's great about it now is you can see, understand the difference, between the two by focusing on what is essential and non essential.
Non-essential always matches up with which. Essential always matches up with that. So the ping pong table at three E which is upstairs is broken. Remember what I said about the man? If there's many, many men and we have to figure out oh, it's really important that it's that man, not the crazy guy with the chain saw, that is essential what we have.
But if there's only one, the boy we both know it's that boy. We know there's not three or four other boys. Then it is non-essential. And so, in this case when I say, the ping pong table, which is upstairs, it's not many ping pong tables. I don't have 20 ping pong tables in my home, I have one.
One ping pong table. And now I'm defining it I'm talking about that one ping pong table, which is upstairs, is broken. And so you can see if I got rid of this, it really wouldn't change things too much. The ping pong table's broken. If you come to my house, you have your little red paddle.
You are still not gonna be able to play ping pong. Why? Because the ping table, the ping pong table is broken. And oh, by the way it's upstairs. Now, compare that to F. Now you're coming over with your little racket, and it says the ping pong table that is upstairs is broken.
Now, does that mean you have to go home and cry, cuz you didn't get to play ping pong at my house? Not necessarily, because I'm using that. Which shows that I have more than one ping pong table. Now if you go upstairs you're probably not gonna get to play, because it's broken. But what happens?
Well there are other ones in my house. So we need to use the one in the garage. And there we go. Now we can see how important it is essential. And therefore. We need that because we have more than one ping pong table, and its important we have this one, because its the one that is upstairs that's broken.
And so now that you know that, you can see that there's another one and you get to stay and play ping pong, unlike the first one which ping pong table is simply broken. Who cares? I have one whether its upstairs, downstairs, in the kitchen. Doesn't matter its broken, and you gotta go home.