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Chopsticks1942 Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Adjective clauses

According to my grammar book: A Non-defining Adjective Clause give more information about the subject. It is marked off by commas.

One of the example in the exercise is,
(a) The pen is broken. I bought it last month.
The pen which I bought last month is broken.

I really confused with this example, shouldn't it be
The pen, which I bought last month, is broken. ?
  

Top answer

Hard to tell. "The pen which I bought last month is broken" means that there's a particular pen amongst all your others, namely the one defined by the fact that you bought it last month. And wouldn't you know it?

— Deadrat

  • Hard to tell.
  • "The pen which I bought last month is broken" means that there's a particular pen amongst all your others, namely the one defined by the fact that you bought it last month.
  • And wouldn't you know it?
  • That pen is broken.
  • "The pen, which I bought last month, is broken" means that you bought a pen last month, it's broken, and we have no idea about how many other pens you might have, if any.
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3 Answers
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Hard to tell. "The pen which I bought last month is broken" means that there's a particular pen amongst all your others, namely the one defined by the fact that you bought it last month. And wouldn't you know it? That pen is broken.

"The pen, which I bought last month, is broken" means that you bought a pen last month, it's broken, and we have no idea about how many other pens you mig
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deadrat Hard to tell. "The pen which I bought last month is broken" means that there's a particular pen amongst all your others, namely the one defined by the fact that you bought it last month. And wouldn't you know it? That pen is broken."The pen, which I bought last month, is broken" means that you bought a pen last month, it's broken, and we have no idea about how man
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I'm told that "that" and "which" are interchangeable in England. In the US, we use "which" for nonrestrictive and "that" for restrictive. One of the reasons for the American Revolution I think.
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