Could you explain the difference in meaning, if any, between the following 2 sentences?
(a) My brother, who is in the army, has just moved to Paris.
(b) My brother who is in the army has just moved to Paris.
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NOT A TEACHER **********
Hello, Jitkajar.
(1) We have recently had some interesting threads on this matter.
(2) There is not 100% agreement.
(3) But this is one explanation that some (many?) people accept:
My brother has moved to Paris. That is what I am telling you. Then I
give you some extra information about his being in the army. I put that
extra information between periods. That means that the information
is not super important. It can be erased. Therefore, the sentence is
really: My brother has moved to Paris. Some (
not all) people feel that
this shows that you have only
one brother.
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My brother who is in the army has just moved to Paris. =
I did not use commas. Why? Because "who is in the army" is
super important information that cannot be erased. It cannot be
erased because I want to identify
which brother has moved. It is
the one who is in the army, not the brother of mine who is a doctor in
New York. As you can see, many people feel that such a sentence
without commas means you have
at least two brothers.
Thank you