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Clauses:theEssentialBuildingBlocks

CLAUSES:
THEESSENTIAL
BUILDINGBLOCKS

Selectfromthefollowing

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Definition
AclauseisagroupofrelatedwordscontainingasubjectandaverbAclausecan
beusefullydistinguishedfromaphrase,whichisagroupofrelatedwordsthatdoesnot
containasubjectverbrelationship,suchas"inthemorning"or"runningdownthe
street"or"havinggrownusedtothisharassment."Areviewofthedifferentkindsof
phrasesmightbehelpful.

WordsWeUsetoTalkaboutClauses
Learningthevarioustermsusedtodefineandclassifyclausescanbeavocabulary
lessoninitself.Thisdigitalhandoutcategorizesclausesintoindependentand
dependentclauses.Thissimplymeansthatsomeclausescanstandbythemselves,as
separatesentences,andsomecan't.Anothertermfordependentclauseissubordinate
clause:thismeansthattheclauseissubordinatetoanotherelement(theindependent
clause)anddependsonthatotherelementforitsmeaning.Thesubordinateclauseis
createdbyasubordinatingconjunctionordependentword.
Anindependentclause,"Sheisolderthanherbrother"(whichcouldbeitsown
sentence),canbeturnedintoadependentorsubordinateclausewhenthesamegroupof
wordsbeginswithadependentword(orasubordinatingconjunctioninthiscase):
"Becausesheisolderthanherbrother,shetellshimwhattodo."
Clausesarealsoclassifiedasrestrictiveandnonrestrictiveclauses.(Thewords
essentialandnonessentialaresometimesusedandmeanthesamethingasrestrictive
andnonrestrictive,respectively.Britishgrammarianswillmakethissamedistinctionby
referringtoclauseswiththetermsdefiningandnondefining.)Anonrestrictiveclause
isnotessentialtothemeaningofthesentenceitcanberemovedfromthesentence
withoutchangingitsbasicmeaning.Nonrestrictiveclausesareoftensetapartfromthe
restofthesentencebyacommaorapairofcommas(ifit'sinthemiddleofasentence).
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ProfessorVilla,whousedtobeasecretaryforthePresident,cantype132
wordsaminute.
ReviewtheNotoriousConfusablessectiononthedifferencebetweenThatand
Whichforadditionalclarificationonthedistinctionbetweenrestrictiveand
nonrestrictive.
RelativeclausesaredependentclausesintroducedbyaRelativePronoun(that,
which,whichever,who,whoever,whom,whomever,whose,andofwhich).Relative
clausescanbeeitherrestrictiveornonrestrictive.ReviewthesectiononCommaUsage
foradditionalhelpindeterminingwhetherrelativeclausesarerestrictiveor
nonrestrictive(parentheticalornot)andwhethercommasshouldbeusedtosetthemoff
fromtherestofthesentence.Inarelativeclause,therelativepronounisthesubjectof
theverb(rememberthatallclausescontainasubjectverbrelationship)andrefersto
(relatesto)somethingprecedingtheclause.
Giuseppesaidthattheplantarwart,whichhadbeenbotheringhimforyears,
hadtoberemoved.
(Inthissentence,theclauseinthiscolorisarestrictive[essential]clause[anounclause
seebelow]andwillnotbesetoffbyacommatheunderlinedrelativeclause
[modifying"wart"]isnonrestrictive[nonessentialitcanberemovedfromthe
sentencewithoutchangingthemeaningofthesentence]andissetoffbycommas.)
Somerelativeclauseswillrefertomorethanasinglewordintheprecedingtext
theycanmodifyanentireclauseorevenaseriesofclauses.
Charliedidn'tgetthejobinadministration,whichreallysurprisedhis
friends.
Charliedidn'tgetthejobinadministration,andhedidn'tevenapplyforthe
Dean'sposition,whichreallysurprisedhisfriends.
Arelativeclausethatreferstoormodifiesentireclausesinthismanneriscalleda
sententialclause.Sometimesthe"which"ofasententialclausewillgettuckedintothe
clauseasthedeterminerofanoun:
Charliemightverywelltakeajobasheadmaster,inwhichcasetheschool
mightaswellclosedown.
EllipticalClauses:seebelow.
Finally,everybody'sfavoriteclauseistheSantaClause,whichneedsnofurther
definition:

IndependentClauses
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IndependentClausescouldstandbythemselvesasdiscretesentences,exceptthat
whentheydostandbythemselves,separatedfromotherclauses,they'renormally
referredtosimplyassentences,notclauses.Theabilitytorecognizeaclauseandto
knowwhenaclauseiscapableofactingasanindependentunitisessentialtocorrect
writingandisespeciallyhelpfulinavoidingsentencefragmentsandrunon
sentences..
Needlesstosay,itisimportanttolearnhowtocombineindependentclausesinto
largerunitsofthought.Inthefollowingsentence,forexample,
Bobdidn'tmeantodoit,buthediditanyway.
wehavetwoindependentclauses"Bobdidn'tmeantodoit"and"hediditanyway"
connectedbyacommaandacoordinatingconjunction("but").Iftheword"but"is
missingfromthissentence,thesentencewouldbecalledacommasplice:two
independentclauseswouldbeincorrectlyconnected,smooshedtogether,withonlya
commabetweenthem.Furthermore,alongseriesofclausesofsimilarstructureand
lengthbeginstofeelmonotonous,leadingtowhatiscalled"DickandJane"orprimer
language(afterthekindofprosethatwefindinfirstgradetextbooksor"primers").(See
thesectiononAvoidingPrimerLanguageforadviceandexercisesoncombining
sentences.)ItwouldalsobehelpfulatthistimetoreviewthesectiononPunctuation
BetweenTwoIndependentClauses.
Clausesarecombinedinthreedifferentways:coordination,subordination,andby
meansofasemicolon.Coordinationinvolvesjoiningindependentclauseswithoneof
thecoordinatingconjunctions:and,but,or,nor,for,yet,andsometimes*so.Clauses
thusconnectedareusuallynicelybalancedinlengthandimport.
Ramonitathoughtaboutjoiningthechurchchoir,butshenevertalkedtoher
friendsaboutit.
Subordinationinvolvesturningoneoftheclausesintoasubordinateelement(one
thatcannotstandonitsown)throughtheuseofaSubordinatingConjunction
(sometimescalledadependentword)oraRelativePronoun.Whentheclausebegins
withasubordinatingword,itisnolongeranindependentclauseitiscalledadependent
orsubordinateclausebecauseitdependsonsomethingelse(theindependentclause)for
itsmeaning.Thereareotherwaysofcombiningideasbyturningindependent
clausesintovariouskindsofmodifyingphrases.Again,seethesectiononAvoiding
PrimerLanguage.
AlthoughRamonitaoftenthoughtaboutjoiningthechoir,shenevertalked
toherfriendsaboutit.
Ramonitanevertalkedtoherfriendsaboutjoiningthechoir,becauseshe
wasafraidtheywouldmakefunofher.
YasminisRamonita'ssister.YasmintoldRamonitatojointhechoirno
matterwhatherfriendssaid.
Joiningthesewiththeuseofarelativeclause:
Yasmin,[whois]Ramonita'ssister,toldRamonitatojointhechoir....
Semicolonscanconnecttwoindependentclauseswithorwithoutthehelpofa
conjunctiveadverb(transitionalexpression).Semicolonsshouldbeusedsparingly
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andonlywhenthetwoindependentclausesinvolvedarecloselyrelatedandnicely
balancedintermsoflengthandimport.
Ramonitahassuchabeautifulvoicemanycoupleshaveaskedhertosing
attheirwedding.
Ramonita'svoicehasaclear,angelicqualityfurthermore,sheclearly
enjoysusingit.
(Clickonthewordssemicolonsandconjunctiveadverbaboveforfurtherhelpwiththeir
use.)
Takethesetwoquizzesonrecognizingindependentclausesbeforeproceedingtothe
sectionondependentclauses.

Recognizing Independent
Clauses

Recognizing Independent
Clauses II

DependentClauses
DependentClausescannotstandbythemselvesandmakegoodsense.Theymust
becombinedwithanindependentclausesothattheybecomepartofasentencethatcan
standbyitself.(ReviewthesectiononCommasUsageforadviceandplentyof
exercisesonthepunctuationrequirementswhendependentandindependentclausesare
combined.)Unlikeindependentclauses,whichsimplyarewhattheyare,dependent
clausesaresaidtoperformvariousfunctionswithinasentence.Theyacteitherinthe
capacityofsomekindofnounorassomekindofmodifier.Therearethreebasickinds
ofdependentclauses,categorizedaccordingtotheirfunctioninthesentence.
Rememberthatadependentclausealwayscontainsasubjectandaverb,butitcannot
standbyitself.
Adverbclausesprovideinformationaboutwhatisgoingoninthemain
(independent)clause:where,when,orwhy."Whenthemovieisover,we'll
godowntown."or"Johnwantedtowriteabookbecausehehadsomuchto
sayaboutthesubject."
Adjectiveclausesworklikemultiwordadjectives."Mybrother,whoisan
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engineer,figureditoutforme."or"Thebridgethatcollapsedinthewinter
stormwillcostmillionstoreplace."Aspecialkindofadjectiveclause
beginswitharelativeadverb(where,when,andwhy)butnonetheless
functionsasadjectivally.
Nounclausescandoanythingthatnounscando."Whatheknows[subject]
isnoconcernofmine."or"Doyouknowwhatheknows[object]?"or
"Whatcanyoutellmeaboutwhathehasdonethisyear[objectofthe
preposition"about"]?"

Whattheydidwiththetreasureremainsamystery.
Whateveryouwantfordessertisfinewithme.
Thatyoushouldfeelthiswayabouthercameasa
greatsurprisetous.
Juanfinallyrevealedwhathehaddonewiththe
money.
Herhusbandspentwhatevershehadsavedoverthe
years.
Idon'tknowwhatIshoulddonext.
Infact,hewroteabookaboutwhathehaddone
overtheyears.
Weareinterestedinwhathedoesforaliving.

Thetroublewasthattheyhadneverbeenthere
before.
Thebiggestdisappointmentoflastseasonwasthat
thewomen'steamdidn'tmakeittothefinalfour.
Mybrother,whonowteachesmathinasmall
college,neverlikedmathinhighschool.
Thedealershipthatsoldmorecarsendedupactually
losingmoney.
TheFederatedBank,whichwasfoundednearlytwo
centuriesago,foldedduringthestate'seconomic
crisis.
Theteamhadfallenbehindbytenpointsbeforethey
wereabletofigureouttheopponent'sdefense.
Sincehestartedworkingnights,hedoesn'tseemuch
ofhiskids.
WhileJosiesatinsidewatchingtelevision,Gladys
shoveledthedriveway.

CombinationsofClauses
ReviewthesectiononSentenceVarietyforhelpinunderstandingthevarietyof
sentencepatterns.Itisdifficulttoknowifyou'reusingdifferentpatternsunlessyou
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keepinmindthewaythatclausesarecombinedinlargersentenceunitsofthought.Pay
specialattentiontothevarietyofsentencetypes:simple,compound,complex,and
compoundcomplexsentences.Thesearedefinedbytheiressentialingredients,the
clausesthatmakethemup.Thereisalsoaquizattheendofthatsectionthatwilltest
yourabilitytodistinguishamongthekindsofclausesthatmakeupasentence.

EllipticalClauses
EllipticalClausesaregrammaticallyincompleteinthesensethattheyaremissing
eithertherelativepronoun(dependentword)thatnormallyintroducessuchaclauseor
somethingfromthepredicateinthesecondpartofacomparison.Themissingpartsof
theellipticalclausecanbeguessedfromthecontextandmostreadersarenotawarethat
anythingismissing.Infact,ellipticalclausesareregardedasbothusefulandcorrect,
eveninformalprose,becausetheyareoftenelegant,efficientmeansofexpression.
(Theomittedwordsarenotedinbracketsbelow).
CoachEspinozaknew[that]thisteamwouldbethebest[that]shehad
coachedinrecentyears.
Though[theywere]sometimesnervousonthecourt,herrecruitsprovedto
behardworkers.
Sometimestheveteransknewtherecruitscouldplaybetterthanthey[could
play].

Quiz on Recognizing Clause

Functions
*Theconjunction"so"issometimesacoordinatingconjunction"Thesunishighintheskyrightnow,
soputonsomesunscreen."butitoftenservesasasubordinatingconjunction:"Pedritokeptlookingin
therearviewmirrorsohecouldseehisbrotherdrivingthetruckbehindhim."

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