The notion of restriction in English grammar

Abstract

'Restriction' and 'non-restriction' in accounts of English grammar are notions usually applied only to relative clauses, which, we are often told, may be restrictive (defining) or non-restrictive (non-defining).In this article a case is made out for seeing the dichotomy between restriction and non-restriction as a more pervasive feature of English grammar that affects many other grammatical structures, and even lexical items. © 1981 Oxford University Press.