1. Clauses
Chapter 3

2. Kinds of Clauses
A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.
An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone in a sentence.

3. Examples: Professor Hardee is a brilliant inventor.
(one independent clause)
She is an inventor, and her husband is a patent attorney.
(two independent clauses)

4. Clauses (Cont’d)
A subordinate clause contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone.
A subordinate clause is introduced by such words as because, that, when, since, before, after, if, and which.
By itself, a subordinate clause is a sentence fragment.

5. Examples of Subordinate Clauses:
When I went to the party.
After I came home.
Since I did not do my homework.
That I do not care about.
Because I am sick.
Before I was able to talk to you.
If you care about the team

6. Because she is imaginative, her inventions are unusual.
Examples:
Because she is imaginative, her inventions are unusual.
She creates gadgets that no one has ever thought of before.

7. Adjective Clauses
An adjective clause is a subordinate clause that is used as an adjective to modify a noun or a pronoun.
An adjective clause is introduced by a relative pronoun or by a relative adverb.

8. Adjective Clauses (Cont’d)
Relative Pronouns
That
Which
Who
Whom
whose
Relative Adverbs
After
Before
Since
When
Where
why

9. Examples:
Willy Higginbotham is the scientist who invented the first computer game.
It was he who developed computer tennis.

10. Examples: Have you seen the computer that Higginbotham used?
Have you seen the desk where Higginbotham sat?

11. Examples:
Tourists can visit the laboratory that employed Higginbotham.
Brookhaven National Laboratory, which employed Higginbotham, is in Upton, New York.

12. Adverb Clauses
An adverb clause is a subordinate clause that describes a verb, an adjective, or an adverb.
Adverb clauses are introduced by subordinating conjunctions.

13. Subordinating Conjunctions
After As
As if
As long as
As soon as
Before
Since
Until
When
whenever
While
Because
As than
Although
As long as
Even if
Even though
If provided that
Though
Unless

14. Subordinating Conjunctions
Until
Whereas
In order that
So that As
As if
As though
Where
wherever

15. Examples: Verb
Charles Babbage paved the way for the computer when he devised his “analytical engine.”

16. Examples: Adjective
Babbage’s invention was important because it proved a machines’ ability to perform mathematical operations.

17. Examples: Adverb
Computers can solve complicated math problems faster than people can.

18. Noun Clauses A noun clause is a subordinate clause used as a noun.
A noun clause can function in a sentence as a subject, direct object, indirect object, predicate noun, or an object of a preposition.
A noun clause is introduced by a subordinating conjunction or by a relative pronoun.

19. Noun Clauses (Cont’d) What Whatever Which Whichever Who Whoever Whom
Whomever
Whose
How
That
When
Where
Whether
Why

20. Examples: Subject – What you accomplish is up to you.
Direct Object – You know that you hold the key.
Indirect Object – Give whatever is most worthy your best effort.

21. Examples: Predicate Noun – Then you will be who you were meant to be.
Object of the Preposition – Think about how you can reach your goals.

22. Noun Clauses (Cont’d)
The introductory word in a noun clause is sometimes omitted.
Example:
The owner’s manual states the time machine is guaranteed to work.

23. Sentence Structure
A sentence’s structure is determined by the number and kind of clauses it contains.
The structure of a sentence may be simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

24. Two friends invented the first trivia game.
Simple Sentence
A simple sentence consists of one independent clause and no subordinate clause.
Two friends invented the first trivia game.

25. A simple sentence may have a compound subject or verb.
Chris Haney and Scott Abbott created it and marketed it.

26. Compound Sentences
In a compound sentence two or more independent clauses are joined together.
Independent clauses can be joined by a comma and a coordinating conjunction, a semicolon, or a semicolon with a conjunctive adverb and a comma.

27. Compound Sentences (Cont’d)
Bette Nesmith typed on an electric typewriter, and she often made mistakes.
She could have erased them, but that took a lot of time.

28. Compound Sentences (cont’d)
Nesmith did not erase her errors; she covered them with a mixture of water and white paint.
Nesmith was not happy with the name “paper correction fluid”; consequently, she gave the mixture a catchy brand name.

29. Complex Sentences
A complex sentence contains one independent clause and one or more subordinate clauses.
If cockleburs had not clung to his jacket, George de Mestral might never have invented Velcro.
He was curious to know the reason why they clung so tightly.

30. Compound-Complex Sentences
A compound complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and one or more subordinate clauses.

31. Compound-Complex Sentences
When de Mestral studied the burs, he saw tiny hooks on their surfaces becoming entangled in hoops of fiber, and this observation inspired him to invent the hook-and-loop fastener.

32. Compound-Complex Sentences
While another might have been annoyed, he was intrigued, and he thought of a use to which the phenomenon could be put to use.

33. Sentence Fragment
A sentence fragment is only a part of a sentence.

34. Phrase Fragment A phrase fragment has neither subject nor verb.
At the beginning of a job search.
Through the woods to Sylvan Lane.
By the school on the hill.

35. Clause Fragment
A subordinate clause contains a subject and a verb, but it does not express a complete thought.
If you are the outgoing sort.
After I got home from the party.
Since I was ill.

36. Other Fragments
Forgetting to include the subject, a verb, or part of the linking verb also results in a fragment.
Librarians inaccurately stereotyped as quiet.

37. Run-On Sentences
A run-on sentence consists of two or more sentences written as if they were one sentence.
Many people resent this practice, one “wrong” answer could disqualify them.

38. Run-On Sentences (cont’d)
Some firms give personality tests at job interviews they want to see if people fit in.