Clauses

Every clause is either independent or subordinate (dependent) An independent (or main) clause has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. Does this definition sound familiar?

It should. It is also the definition for a sentence. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence, that’s why it’s called independent. Independent clauses have three components: They have a subject - they tell the reader what the sentence is about. They have an action- they tell the reader what the subject is doing. They express a complete thought - something happened or was said. Independent clause: Karen and Jon are late as usual.

A conjunction is the action or an instance of two or more events or things occurring at the same point in time or space. A conjunction is a word that connects two parts of a sentence. The very common word and is a conjunction. Look at how it joins these words, phrases and clauses: bread and butter (joins two words) up the stairs and along the corridor (joins two phrases) Ram likes tea and Anthony likes coffee (joins two clauses)

Here are some other common conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so although, because, since, unless

A compound sentence is made up of two or more independent clauses joined by a conjunction. We finished the jigsaw puzzle, but two pieces were missing. A Subordinate (or dependent) clause has a subject and a verb, but doesn’t express a complete thought. That I told you about. Because she is trying to save money.

A subordinate clause can’t stand alone. It must be attached to or inserted into an independent clause, or the word that makes it a subordinated clause must dropout. Because she is trying to save money, Sheila has been packing her lunch. The house that I told you about sold this morning. Study for quiz next class

There are 3 kinds of subordinate clauses: adjective clause, adverb clause, and noun clause. We are going over 2. An adjective clause is a subordinate clause that functions as a adjective. It modifies a noun or pronoun. It is a dependent clause that functions as an adjective. Dave, who is six feet tall, is Elaine’s boyfriend.

Some words that usually introduce Adjective clauses are: That whichwhowhomwhose Charlie has a friend whose daughter lives in China. He is the person whom I told you about in my letter.

An introductory relative pronoun may be omitted from the sentence. If you read aloud the sentences below, you will see that they make sense without the bracketed words. Where is the CD (that) I lent you? Sara is the person (whom) you should see.

An Adverb clause is a subordinate clause that functions as an adverb. It modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. John left for work ten minutes earlier than he usually does. (modifies the adverb earlier) Some words that usually introduce Adverb Clauses are: Than WhereWhen

All sentences can be classified according to their structure. You need to be able to think about the variety of sentences structures so that you can vary your sentences when you write a paragraph or a longer paper. There are 4 types of sentence structures. Simple sentence Compound sentence Complex sentence Compound-complex sentence

A simple sentence has one independent clause and no subordinate clauses. You may be surprised to find that a simple sentences can be quite long and complicated. A simple sentence may have a compound subject, and compound verb, and many different kind of phrases. I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station.

A compound sentence refers to a sentence made up of two independent clauses (or complete sentences) connected to one another with a coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions are easy to remember if you think of the words "FAN BOYS": For And Nor But Or Yet So Joe waited for the train, but the train was late.

A dependent clause cannot stand by its own, but will not start with a proposition unless it is an infinitive ( to eat, to vanish, to want) A complex sentence is made up of an independent clause and one or more dependent clauses connected to it. Because my coffee was too cold, I heated it in the microwave.

A compound-complex sentence is made from two independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses. Laura forgot her friend's birthday, so she sent her a card when she finally remembered.