関係代名詞の使い方, part 10: commas and "that"

Yesterday I was talking about whether you should use a comma or not with your relative pronoun.

There's another important point about commas. If you use a comma, you can't use "that".

× My apartment, that is on a high floor, shook a lot in the earthquake this morning.
○ My apartment, which is on a high floor, shook a lot in the earthquake this morning.

If your relative clause is an essential one, then you can use either "which" or "that" (or "who", "where", etc.).

○ The earthquake that hit Tokyo was a big one.
○ The earthquake which hit Tokyo was a big one.

Identify the relative clauses in this paragraph:

• 指す (さす) (v5s,vt) (1) to point; (2) to nominate; to select someone; to specify some person; (3) to identify; to indicate; to point out; (P);

The photo that you are looking at is the ceiling of the Tokyo International Forum, where I was waiting yesterday while my bicycle was being repaired. The ceiling, that is made of glass, is really beautiful. Unfortunately the camera, which is in the iPhone, doesn't capture its beauty very well. <- can you spot the one mistake?

• capture 引き付ける、とらえる、魅了｛みりょう｝する

There's still a lot to talk about regarding relative clauses. More soon!