Welcome!
Welcome to the Learning Commons Quick Start Guide to Restrictive and Non-restrictive Qualifiers!
Often when writing, we need to add further clarification about a noun beyond simply using the noun itself. This qualifying information can either provide new information about the noun or cause the noun to refer to a more specific person, place, or thing. Although they appear similar, these two types of qualifiers need to be treated differently in order to reduce confusion.
This guide will explain:
- The difference between restrictive and non-restrictive qualifiers
- How to punctuate them