|
A clause is a collection of
grammatically-related words including a predicate
and a subject (though sometimes is the
subject is implied). A collection of grammatically-related words without a
subject or without a predicate is called a
phrase. Clauses are the building
blocks of sentences: every sentence consists
of one or more clauses. This chapter will help you to recognize and (more
importantly) to use different types of clauses in your own writing.
Recognizing Clauses
Consider these examples:
- clause
- cows eat grass
This example is a clause, because it contains the
subject "cows" and the
predicate "eat grass."
- phrase
- cows eating grass
What about "cows eating grass"? This noun phrase could be a subject, but it
has no predicate attached to it: the adjective phrase "eating grass" show
which cows the writer is referring to, but there is nothing here to show
why the writer is mentioning cows in the first place.
- clause
- cows eating grass are visible from the highway
This is a complete clause again. The subject "cows eating grass" and the
predicate "are visible from the highway" make up a complete thought.
- clause
- Run!
This single-word command is also a clause, even though it does seem to have a
subject. With a direct command, it is not necessary to include the subject,
since it is obviously the person or people you are talking to: in other words,
the clause really reads "[You] run!". You should not usually use direct commands
in your essays, except in quotations.
Using Clauses as Nouns, Adjectives, and Adverbs
If a clause can stand alone as a sentence, it is an
independent clause, as in the
following example:
- Independent
- the Prime Minister is in Ottawa
Some clauses, however, cannot stand alone as sentences: in this case, they
are dependent clauses or
subordinate clauses. Consider
the same clause with the subordinating conjunction
"because" added to the beginning:
- Dependent
- when the Prime Minister is in Ottawa
In this case, the clause could not be a sentence by itself, since the
conjunction "because" suggests that the clause is
providing an explanation for something else. Since this dependent clause answers
the question "when," just like an adverb, it is called
a dependent adverb clause
(or simply an adverb clause, since adverb clauses are always dependent clauses).
Note how the clause can replace the adverb "tomorrow" in the following examples:
- adverb
- The committee will meet tomorrow.
- adverb clause
- The committee will meet when the Prime Minister is in Ottawa.
Dependent clauses can stand not only for adverbs, but also for
nouns and for adjectives.
See more
|