Because of the extent and importance of restrictive and non-restrictive groups of words, another like illustrative sentence, with its variations, seems worth while:
15. The committee is composed of women who are not voters.
15-1. The committee is composed of women, who are not voters.
15-2. The committee is composed of men who are not voters.
15-3. The committee is composed of men, who are not voters.
What do these sentences really assert and what meanings do they convey? Let us consider the answers to this question quite fully, and make them a test of all restrictive and non-restrictive groups.
No. 15 says the members of the committee are not voters, implying that other women are voters. The members of the committee might not be voters because of age, non-residence, etc.
No. 15-1 says all women are not voters,—that is, no women are voters. The group “who are not voters” is explanatory of women.
No. 15-2 is the same as No. 15.
No. 15-3 is the same as No. 15-1; but, as men enjoy universal political suffrage, the statement in No. 15-3 is somewhat more striking than that made in No. 15-1, and therefore we must seek conditions giving sanction to such an assertion. For instance, a woman’s society might admit men to honorary membership in the society without the privilege of voting. If a committee was composed of such men, the statement made in No. 15-3 would be applicable.
Our next three sentences are perhaps more typical of the sentences met in general reading:
16. In 1826, an edition of this work, designed solely for printers, was first published.