Clause Definition: A group of words that contains a subject and a verb

There are two kinds of clauses: Independent and Dependent (Subordinate)

Independent A clause that expresses a complete thought and can stand alone AKA A SENTENCE

Examples of Independent Clauses: *he memorized a poem last night *Mary will read her poem at school tomorrow *many people enjoy poetry

Identify the subject and verb in the independent clauses in Exercise 1 p. 120.

When an independent clause starts with a capital letter and ends with a period or question mark, it is a SENTENCE. *He memorized a poem. *Mary will read her poem at school. *Many people enjoy poetry.

Subordinate (or dependent) clause does not express a complete thought and cannot stand by itself as a complete sentence

Examples of Dependent or Subordinate Clauses *because he memorized a poem *when Mary reads her poem at school *since many people enjoy poetry

. When a dependent clause begins with a capital letter and ends with a period or question mark, it is a FRAGMENT * Because he memorized a poem. *When Mary reads her poem at school tomorrow. *Since many people enjoy poetry

Identify the subordinate clause in the sentences in Exercise 2 p –Label the subject and verb in each subordinate clause

What makes one clause independent and another dependent?

...because he memorized a poem… He memorized a poem.

…when Mary reads her poem at school... Mary reads her poem at school.

A dependent or subordinate clause needs an independent clause to create a true sentence.

Because he memorized a poem, Mike will receive extra credit. Mike will receive extra credit because he memorized a poem.

When Mary reads her poem at school, we will applaud. We will applaud when Mary reads her poem at school.

Punctuation: When the dependent clause comes first, it is followed by a comma.