COMMON ERRORS: 15 and 16

15: USE OF AN ADVERBIAL CLAUSE TO COMPLEMENT A VERB

Certain verbs e.g. to be and to become can only take a complement,
or word or phrase which completes the sense, after them.

The complement can be a NOUN e.g. Sun Khin became a doctor, an ADJECTIVE e.g. Timothy is handsome or an ADVERB e.g. The Soo’s annual meeting is in progress. It cannot be an adverbial clause, unless the verb is changed.

WRONG: Bankruptcy is when a company cannot meet its debts.
RIGHT: Bankruptcy occurs when a company cannot meet its debts.


16: CONFUSION BETWEEN RESTRICTIVE AND NON-RESTRICTIVE CLAUSES

Relative clauses i.e. those that begin with who, whom, which, or thatcan work in 2 ways: Restrictive and Non-restrictive.

Restrictive, which has no comma, restricts whatever is said in the relative clause to the specific term used in the main clause e.g.

Main clause: This is the report Relative clause: that I wrote yesterday.

The writer is talking about 1 specific report and no other. In the 2nd clause that can be dropped or can have which substituted for it.

This means you could write perfectly acceptably and without changing the meaning e.g.
This is the report I wrote yesterday OR This is the report which I wrote yesterday.

In all 3 versions the relative clause is essential to the meaning to of the sentence. A speaker would not pause at any time during the sentence.

In restrictive clauses, instead of narrowing the term used in the main clause, the writer simply adds more information e.g.

Professor Lim Guat Sim admired the report, which three of us had prepared.

In the above sentence the relative clause could be dropped without affecting the main message in the sentence. If left in, it must begin with which and have a comma immediately before it. A writer cannot drop the word which or substitute that for it. A speaker must pause to convey the force of the comma.

Be particularly careful when both meanings are possible but you intend to convey only one e.g.
Dr Lim Guat Loo admired the report which she had just finished reading (= Dr Lim Guat Loo admired a specific report).

Dr Lim Guat Loo admired the report, which she had just finished reading (= Dr Lim Guat Loo admired the specific report which, as it happens, she had just finished reading).