1. Commas with Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Elements
Writing Lab
Commas with Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Elements

2. Restrictive Elements
They are essential to a sentence because they restrict, or limit, the meaning of the words they modify.
They are not set off from the sentence with commas.
The city which is known as the Mile High City has an altitude of one mile.

3. Nonrestrictive Elements
Although they add important information, they are not essential to the meaning of a sentence.
Set them off from the sentence with commas.
Denver, which is known as the Mile High City, has an altitude of one mile.

4. Restrictive Examples
Last summer Thaun Le visited the Vietnamese village where she was born during the war.
He who steals my purse steals trash.
A man who thinks he has no faults has one.
Good things come to people who wait.

5. Nonrestrictive Examples
Margaret Thatcher, who was prime minister longer than anyone else in this century, made enormous changes in England.
The book, old, dirty, and dilapidated, is one of my favorites.
The weatherman, who on a rainy day had predicted sunshine, called the rain “Oregon mist.”

6. That’s all, folks!
This lesson is part of the UWF Writing Lab Grammar Mini-Lesson Series
Lessons adapted from Real Good Grammar, Too by Mamie Webb Hixon
To find out more, visit the Writing Lab’s website where you can take a self-scoring quiz corresponding to this lesson