Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses and Appositives

Restrictive clauses limit the meaning of a noun or pronoun, so they are not set off by commas. 

Example:  My father told the woman who called yesterday that I was not home.

Nonrestrictive clauses supply additional information but are not essential to the sentence’s meaning, so they are set off by commas.

Example:  My father told Mary, the woman who called yesterday, that I was not home.

In each of the following sentences, label the imbedded clause as restrictive or nonrestricitve and add commas accordingly.

            Example: 

Restrictive à  The teacher decided to give the students who failed a second chance.

Nonrestrictive à  Dick Prosser, the protagonist of Wolfe’s “Child By Tiger,” suffers a mental breakdown at the end.

1.      Magic Johnson who is a famous basketball player is coming to our hometown next week.

2.      Harper Lee who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird impressed me with her work.

3.      Athletes who use drugs are no longer eligible to play.

4.      Employees who are slack on the job are going to be fired soon.

5.      A building which burned last week was over sixty years old.

6.      Carol the coach of the girls’ basketball team was very successful in her career.

7.      Jim Davis the great cartoonist draws Garfield the cat America loves.

8.      My friend George just bought a new car.

9.      Chris the leader of the baseball team won’t play today.

10.    My eldest brother David is the most brilliant of my brothers.

11.    The student union a meeting place for all students stands at the center of the campus.

12.    The American flag which is red, white, and blue is beautiful.

13.    A person who specializes in accounting needs time and patience.

14.    Students who receive F grades may return to the same class the next quarter.

15.    Only girls who have boyfriends on the team receive special benefits.

16.    Macon which is now growing rapidly has a very large mall.

17.    The dog that ate the cat has indigestion.

18.    Fathers who try to mold their sons may pressure them too much.