Nonrestrictive clauses...

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are essential to the meaning of the sentence.
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lack either a noun or a verb.
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are offset by commas.
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should not be offset by commas.
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1 answer

Nonrestrictive clauses are offset by commas. They provide additional information that can be removed without changing the fundamental meaning of the sentence. For example, in the sentence "My brother, who lives in New York, is visiting," the clause "who lives in New York" is nonrestrictive because it adds extra information but is not essential to understand who "my brother" is.