My brother, who lives in Berlin…: adding information

What you'll be able to do

Write and speak in longer, more connected sentences: add useful details about people, places and things without starting a new sentence, in emails, reports and stories.

The idea

A non-defining clause gives extra information about something we've already identified. It goes between commas, and uses who, which, whose or where, never that.

• My brother, who lives in Berlin, is visiting next week.I have one brother; Berlin is extra
• The report, which took three weeks to write, was approved.extra information about the report
• Our manager, whose idea it was, presented the plan.possession
• We stayed in Kyoto, where my parents met.a place
• The train was late, which meant we missed the meeting.which refers to the whole sentence

Defining or non-defining?

• The colleague who sits next to me is from Ghana.defining: which colleague? no commas
• Ama, who sits next to me, is from Ghana.non-defining: we know who Ama is

Without the commas, the meaning changes, so in writing they matter.

Common mistakes

• My mother, that is a nurse, works nights. No that in non-defining clauses: who is a nurse.
• Paris which is the capital is beautiful. Use commas: Paris, which is the capital, is beautiful.
• We missed the bus, what made us late. For the whole idea: which made us late.