Lesson plan
restrictiveness
In semantics, a modifier is said to be restrictive (or defining) if it restricts the reference of—the defining of—its head. For example, in the expression "the red car is fancier than the blue one", red and blue are restrictive terms because they restrict, i.e., they identify, which of different objects that car and one are referring to. (Without them, the rump expression "The car is fancier than the one" would make little sense.) By contrast, in the phrase "John's beautiful mother", the modifier beautiful is non-restrictive: "John's mother" identifies her sufficiently, where "beautiful" serves only to add more information. Restrictive modifiers are also called defining, identifying, essential, or necessary; and non-restictive modifiers are also called non-defining, non-identifying, descriptive, or unnecessary—though using the last term can be misleading. In certain cases, as typically when restrictiveness is marked syntactically, i.e., by omittting (demarcation) commas, restrictive modifiers are called integrated; and non-restrictive modifiers are called non-integrated or supplementary.
Article summary
In semantics, a modifier is said to be restrictive (or defining) if it restricts the reference of—the defining of—its head. For example, in the expression "the red car is fancier than the blue one", red and blue are restrictive terms because they restrict, i.e., they identify, which of different objects that car and one are referring to. (Without them, the rump expression "The car is fancier than the one" would make little sense.) By contrast, in the phrase "John's beautiful mother", the modifier beautiful is non-restrictive: "John's mother" identifies her sufficiently, where "beautiful" serves only to add more information. Restrictive modifiers are also called defining, identifying, essential, or necessary; and non-restictive modifiers are also called non-defining, non-identifying, descriptive, or unnecessary—though using the last term can be misleading. In certain cases, as typically when restrictiveness is marked syntactically, i.e., by omittting (demarcation) commas, restrictive modifiers are called integrated; and non-restrictive modifiers are called non-integrated or supplementary.
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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