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Rose
Professional Teacherš¬ WHO and COMMAS in Relative Clauses
Perhaps youāve come across the following sentences:
āMy sister, who is a nurse, lives in Chicago.ā
āMy sister who is a nurse lives in Chicago.ā
They look the same, so which one is correct? š¤
Both ā
They are both correct, but they send a different message.
EXPLANATION
1ļøā£ My sister, who is a nurse, lives in Chicago.
- The speaker has one sister.
- The information āwho is a nurseā is extra information.
- We already know who the speaker is talking about, so the clause is not necessary.
š” Thatās why we use commas.
2ļøā£ My sister who is a nurse lives in Chicago.
- The speaker has more than one sister.
- The information āwho is a nurseā is essential to identify which sister they mean.
š” We cannot remove it, so there are no commas.
Rule to remember:
If the information is extra -> use commas.
If the information is necessary -> no commas
#relative clauses
Jan 22, 2026 4:55 AM
Rose
Language Skills
Arabic (Egyptian), Czech, English, Russian
Learning Language
Arabic (Egyptian)
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