Understanding Clauses in Sentences

Dependent and independent clauses

Independent Clause Defined

An independent clause is a clause that can stand on its own, by itself. It does not need to be joined to any other clauses because it contains all the information necessary to be a complete sentence.

Independent clauses have three components:

1. They have a subject - they tell the reader what the sentence is about.

2. They have an action or predicate - they tell the reader what the subject is doing.

3. They express a complete thought - something happened or was said.

An independent clause can be as simple as a subject and a verb:

• Jim reads.

Jim is the subject. Reads is the action or verb. A complete thought was expressed - something was said, and the reader now knows that Jim likes to read.

Independent clauses can also be joined to other independent clauses if the independent clauses are related. However, they must be joined using the proper punctuation.

• Jim read a book; he really enjoyed the book.

Dependent Clause Defined

A dependent clause is a clause that does not express a complete thought.

A clause can be dependent because of the presence of a:

• Marker Word (Before, after, because, since, in order to, although, though, whenever, wherever, whether, while, even though, even if)

• Conjunction (And, or, nor, but, yet)

Dependent clauses must be joined to another clause in order to avoid creating a sentence fragment.

• Because I forgot my homework.

Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, but it was hard to concentrate because of the noise.

Simple sentence

A simple sentence has the most basic elements that make it a sentence: a subject, a verb, and a completed thought.

Examples of simple sentences include the following:

1. Joe waited for the train.
"Joe" = subject, "waited" = verb

Compound sentence

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

Examples of compound sentences include the following:

1. Joe waited for the train, but the train was late.

2. I looked for Mary and Samantha at the bus station, but they arrived at the station before noon and left on the bus before I arrived.

3. Mary and Samantha arrived at the bus station before noon, and they left on the bus before I arrived

4. Mary and Samantha left on the bus before I arrived, so I did not see them at the bus station.