(TUM) Thematic Unit: Memories - Grammar: Clauses Lesson
Thematic Unit: Memories - Grammar: Clauses Lesson
Clauses
Here you'll meet independent and dependent clauses, including adverb, adjective, and noun clauses. Along the way, you learn how to use clauses to add description, show relationships between ideas, and eliminate unnecessary words.
You've got words, you've got phrases, and now you've got clauses. The progression suggests that clauses are pumped up phrases. Indeed, clauses tend to be beefier than phrases. That's because a clause is a group of words with its own subject and verb.
A clause is a group of words with its own subject and verb. An independent (main) clause is a complete sentence; a dependent (subordinate) clause is part of a sentence. A dependent clause cannot stand alone.
Like phrases, clauses enrich your written and oral expression by adding details and making your meaning more exact. Clauses also allow you to combine ideas to show their relationship. This adds logic and cohesion, very good things when you're trying to communicate.
There are two types of clauses: independent clauses (main clauses) and dependent clauses (subordinate clauses and relative clauses).
- An independent clause is a complete sentence; it can stand alone.
- A dependent (subordinate) clause is part of a sentence; it cannot stand alone
| Dependent Clause | Independent Clause |
| Until Captain Cooke returned from his voyage to Tahiti, |
Tattooing was not known in the Western World. |
| Although they had the worst batting average in baseball, |
The New York Mets won the World Series in 1969. |
| Because his salary in 1930 and 1931 was $80,000, |
Babe Ruth was the best-paid athlete in the world at the time. |
Independent Clauses:
An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate. It can stand alone as a sentence because it expresses a complete thought.
Dependent Clauses:
Dependent clauses add additional information to the main clauses, but they are not necessary to form a complete thought. They do not form a complete thought by themselves. As a result, it cannot stand alone. A dependent clause is like a child; it's unable to support itself, but able to cause a lot of problems if crossed.
A dependent clause often starts with a word that makes the clause unable to stand alone. The words used here are until, although, and because, respectively.
Review information in the following presentation regarding independent clauses:
Subordinating Conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions link an independent clause to a dependent clause. Each subordinating conjunction expresses a relationship between the meaning of the dependent clause and the meaning of the independent clause.
Don't use length as your yardstick when determining if a clause is independent or dependent. Either type of clause can be very long or very short—or somewhere in between. Skilled writers often vary the length of their clauses to achieve rhythm, balance, and meaning in their writing.
For example, some conjunctions show time order; others, result or effect. The following table shows the most common subordinating conjunctions and the relationships they express.
| Relationship | Examples |
| Condition | unless, provided that, if, even if |
| Reason | because, as, as if |
| Choice | rather than, than, whether |
| Contrast | though, although, even though, but |
| Location | where, wherever |
| Result, effect | in order that, so, so that, that |
| Time | while, once, when, since, whenever, after, before, until, as soon as |
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