More sentence structure stuff…

What is a clause? A clause is a subject or group of subjects and a predicate or group of predicates working together. A sentence can have as few as one clause, or it may have many clauses. Clauses are to sentences what rooms are to houses. A sentence may have only one clause like a studio may have only one room, or a sentence may have many clauses like a house may have many rooms.

Independent Clauses An independent clause is a subject and a predicate working together and expressing a complete thought. An independent clause does not contain any subordinating or coordinating conjunctions, and could be removed from a larger sentence to stand on its own as a complete grammatical unit.

Dependent Clauses As with every clause, a dependent clause has a subject and a predicate, but unlike an independent clause, a dependent clause does not express a complete thought by itself. Dependent clauses contain either a subordinating or coordinating conjunction and must be joined to an independent clause. A dependent clause that is not joined with an independent clause is one type of sentence fragment.

A Dependent Clause Joined with an Independent Clause We should leave while the getting is good. Independent Clause We should leave. Dependent Clause while the getting is good…

Simple Sentences Simple sentences only have ONE clause. Example: Tom took his ball and went home. *although we have a compound predicate, there is only one subject, so that makes it a simple sentence.

Compound Sentences Compound sentences have two or more clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction. The coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. We use the acronym (F.A.N.B.O.Y.S.) to remember these. A new clause begins when the coordinator introduces the next subject. Example: Janie cried but she didn’t get her way.

Complex Sentences A complex sentence is two or more clauses joined with a subordinating conjunction. Here are some common subordinating conjunctions: unless, before, after, during, because, since, although, and if. Subordinating conjunctions will turn independent clauses into dependent clauses. These dependent clauses can be joined with independent clauses to make longer, more complex sentences. Example: Although sentence structure can be confusing, she now understood it well.

Run-on Sentences A run-on sentence is when two independent clauses are joined. It is a common misconception that run-on sentences have something to do with the length of sentence when this is not the case. Whether a sentence is considered a run-on actually has to do with the structure of the sentence and not its length. Example: I went home Mom was there.