Non-defining Relative Clauses

You only have one sister, so "who lives in Dubai" doesn't tell us which sister. It's a bonus fact. Take it out, and the sentence still works: My sister is visiting next month.

Extra information

සිංහලෙන්

• Nimal's mother, who lives in Galle, has six grandchildren.
• We stopped at the museum, which we had never visited before.
• I've just come back from Kandy, where Kasun lives.
• Yesterday I met Susila, whose husband works in Qatar.

The words

The three rules

Commas change the meaning

Spot the difference

සිංහලෙන්

• He gave me the letter that was in the blue envelope.defining: many letters
• He gave me the letter, which was in a blue envelope.non-defining: one letter

many of which, some of whom…

You can start with all of, many of, some of, most of, none of, one of, both of + whom (people) or which (things):

many of whom / most of which

සිංහලෙන්

• There were lots of people at the party, many of whom I'd known for years.
• He had thousands of books, most of which he had read.

which = the whole sentence

which at the end can refer to everything you said before it:

which = all of that

සිංහලෙන්

• Kasun did really well in his exam, which was a big surprise. 😄
• She's studying to be a doctor, which isn't easy.

Quick check

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1. Ella, is in the hill country, is cool all year.

   thatwhich

2. My father, is 65, still goes to work every day.

   whothat

3. I invited ten friends, some of came late.

   whomwhich

4. The bus was late again, made me angry.

   whichwhat