restrictive/nonrestrictive relative clause

[diamondcutter]

Helen was born in 1880 in the United States. When she was nineteen months old, Helen fell ill. She had a high fever that made her blind and deaf.

(from an English textbook for junior high school students by DC Canada Education Publishing and Hebei Education Press)

I wonder if it’s better to rewrite the last sentence above like this:

She had a high fever, which made her blind and deaf.

That is to say the relative clause should be a nonrestrictive one.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'm not a grammar expert, but in this case, both ways mean the same thing to me. Your version (comma-which) treats "She had a high fever" as an unrestricted clause. The relative which phrase doesn't change its meaning.

But the original form works, too. She did, in fact, have a fever that made her blind and deaf. So it makes perfect sense to say so.

Now let's see what some teachers say.

 

[GoesStation]

Helen was born in 1880 in the United States. When she was nineteen months old, Helen fell ill. She had a high fever that made her blind and deaf.
…

I wonder if it’s better to rewrite the last sentence above like this:

She had a high fever, which made her blind and deaf.

Your version is correct, but it's not better.

 

[Phaedrus]

She had a high fever that made her blind and deaf.

. . . I wonder if it’s better to rewrite the last sentence above like this:

She had a high fever, which made her blind and deaf.

I strongly prefer the version with the restrictive relative, which defines the central attributes of the high fever in so far as the child was concerned. Compare:

She had a blindness- and deafness-inducing high fever.

Nonrestrictive relative clauses are normally used to convey incidental, parenthetical details:

She had a high fever, which is not a good thing for such a young child to have.

And sometimes they are used sententially, nonrestrictively modifying the main clause as a whole:

She had a high fever, which greatly alarmed her parents. ["which" = her having a high fever]

Your nonrestrictive variant would work in conversation as an afterthought, continuing the narrative with what may as well be another sentence.

She had a high fever. It made her blind and deaf.

Your revision is as almost as pedestrian as the above, in my opinion.

 

[Tdol]

Many high fevers don't cause blindness and deafness, so I prefer the restrictive version- it's not just additional information. Your sentence is possible, but it is not as good as the original for me.