Clauses

Clauses, groups of words that include at least a subject and a verb, are classified into two types: independent and dependent. The first type of clauses is the independent clause, which consists of a subject and a verb and also shows a whole idea; therefore, the independent clause can exist alone as a sentence. For example, the independent clause ‘English grammar is easy,’ which has a subject and a verb, expresses a complete thought, so it can be a sentence by itself. Another type of clauses is the dependent clause, which begins with a subordinator and expresses an incomplete thought; therefore, the dependent clause cannot exist alone as a sentence. There are three types of dependent clauses: adverb, adjective, and noun. First, an adverb clause functions as an adverb, so it can express the relationship between the adverb clause and the verb of the independent clause. In the sentence ‘Because grammar is easy, I like to learn English,’ for instance, the subordinator ‘because’ tells the reader why the writer likes to learn English. Second, an adjective clause, which is also called a relative clause, functions as an adjective, so it can modify a noun or pronoun. For example, in the sentence ‘The book, which was written in Spanish, has been translated into twelve languages,’ the adjective clause ‘which was written in Spanish’ tells the reader extra information about this book. Finally, a noun clause functions as a noun, and it is often part of an independent clause, where it can be a subject or an object. For example, in the sentence ‘We are happy that grammar is easy,’ the noun clause ‘that grammar is easy’ is part of the independent clause, in which it functions as the object. To sum up, all clauses, which contain subjects and verbs, are either independent clauses or dependent clauses.