Are you confused about what clauses in English grammar are? This blog post will explain the different types and how to recognize each.
As an English tutor, I’ve had to help many students understand what clauses are.
A lot of them are often confused with them because they can’t tell the difference between the two types of clauses.
But there are some easy ways to tell the two of them apart.
However, to be able to do this, you first need to know what clauses are and what the types are.
What are Clauses in English grammar?
In English grammar, clauses are a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.
Earlier, I said that there are two types of clauses. The two are independent and dependent.
The difference between the two is that an independent clause expresses a complete thought, while a dependent clause does not.
An easy way to distinguish the two is that an independent clause looks like a simple sentence and can act like one too.
As an example, an independent clause would look something like this:
“Bobby headed over to the store.”
As for what a dependent clause could look like:
“While Bobby was in the store,”
Do you see how the latter is not a complete thought and thus not a complete sentence?
Good.
Also, do you also see how it starts with the word “while”?
Excellent.
Dependent clauses always start with words like this (subordinating conjunctions). Here are a few common ones:
- after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, while.
To turn a dependent clause into a complete thought, you have to connect it to an independent clause.
So, it would look something like this:
“While Bobby was in the store, he looked for a new laptop.”
Now that I connected the dependent clause to an independent one (“he looked for a new laptop”), it’s now a complete thought and thus a complete sentence.
Additionally, when connecting the clauses together, you will use a comma (,) and not a coordinate conjunction (or connector word).
Here are the main coordinate conjunctions, just in case you are unsure of what they are:
- and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet
Some takeaway notes:
- Independent clauses express complete thoughts (pretty much a simple sentence)
- Dependent clauses DO NOT express complete thoughts
- Dependent clauses need to be connected to an independent clause to form a complete sentence (this type of sentence is called a complex sentence)
Do you understand everything?
Awesome! Here are some practice questions for you to test your newfound knowledge:
Practice
Read the following sentences and determine if it’s an independent clause or if it is a dependent clause:
- I ran into Harry the day he first met Sally.
- While they were talking,
- On the way to school,
- However, I disliked the competition very much.
Final Thoughts
Clauses in English grammar are important to understand because this little concept can determine if you write a complete sentence and express a complete thought or not.
It’s also important because it’s the basis for creating different types of sentences, which will allow you to vary the length and structure of your sentences, creating an enjoyable reading experience.
Thus, you have to learn the difference between the two and practice writing the two different kinds. The easiest way to do this, in my opinion, is via workbooks, which you can find at our store here.
So, grab a workbook and start improving your writing.
P.S. Here are the answers to the practice questions above:
1) I 2) D 3) D 4) I