Sentences and Clauses: Clauses
A clause is defined as a grouping of words that contains its own subject and verb. A clause may be, but does not have to be, a complete sentence.
Independent Clauses
An independent clause is a grouping of words that constitutes a complete sentence. A sentence can be composed of one or more independent clauses. For example:
One: I like to write.
Two: I like to write and read.
Three: I like to write and read; however, I do not enjoy math.
It is important in writing to make sure that all sentences given an end mark are independent clauses.
Subordinate Clauses
A subordinate clause is a grouping of words that contains its own subject and verb; however, a subordinate clause is not a complete sentence, and can only be part of a sentence.
For example:
Because he was lost.
This is a subordinate clause because it does not express a complete idea. Ask yourself, what happened because he was lost? This sentence does not answer that. In order to fix it, one of two things must happen:
- Mark arrived late to work, because he was lost.
- He was lost.
In sentence one, an independent clause was added to give the subordinating clause meaning. Now the sentence is complete. In the second example, a conjunction was removed because it was not connecting anything.
Noun Clauses
A noun clause is a subordinate clause that functions as a noun in the overall sentence. For example:
Please tell whomever you want about my part.
In this sentence, whomever you want is a noun clause. We can tell this because the phrase acts as the direct object of the verb tell. It is important to conjugate verbs correctly with noun clauses.
Adjective Clauses
An adjective clause is a clause that functions as an adjective in the overall sentence. Adjective clauses often begin with who, whom, whose, which, or that. For example:
I want to go to the town that my parents are from.
In this sentence, that my parents are from acts an adjective to modify the noun town.
Adjective clauses are only set off by commas when they give nonessential information. For example:
The people who live in my neighborhood are nice.
My neighbors, who live down the street, are nice.
In the first sentence, the information in the adjective clause is vital to the meaning of the overall sentence, because people is not a specific noun. In the second sentence, the information is purely supplementary, because "neighbors" is a specific noun. When deciding if you need to use commas or not, ask yourself if the sentene would mean basically the same thing without the adjective clause. If it would, you need commas.
Adverb Clauses
An adverb clause is a clause that functions as an adverb in the overall sentence. Adverb clauses always begin with subordinating conjunctions such as because, though, unless, when, while, and as. Adverbial clauses answer where, why, when, in what fashion, or to what extent an action occurred. For example:
Because the roads were slick, we decided not to drive.
In this sentence, the adverb clause because the roads were slick answers the question why, modifying the verb decided.
An adverb clause may appear in any part of the sentence. For example:
Because the roads were slick, we decided not to drive.
We decided not to drive because the roads were slick.
We decided, because the roads were slick, not to drive.
Notice tht a comma is always used to set off an adverb clause, unless the clause comes at the end of the sentence, as in the second example.
Elliptical Clauses
An elliptical clause is a clause that functions in a sentence with an understood verb or subject and verb. For example:
Omited Verb: He ate five apples, and Lucy (ate) three.
Omited Subject and Verb: I like rock music more than (I like) classical.
In each sentence, the omitted words appear in parentheses. Those words are accepted to be understood in the elliptical clause.
It is important to make sure that any pronouns put in an elliptical clause still make sense. When writing an elliptical clause, mentally put the omitted words back in the sentence. They should still make sense. For example:
The dog was as unhappy as me (was).
In this sentence, the omitted verb is was. If that were put back into the sentence it would read.
The dog was as unhappy as me was.
This clearly does not make sense; we would not say me was. Instead the sentence should read:
The dog was as unhappy as I.