Clauses:

the Essential
Building-Blocks

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Definition
A clause is a group of related words containing a
subject and a verb A clause can be usefully
distinguished from a phrase, which is a group of
related words that does not contain a subject-
verb relationship, such as "in the morning" or
"running down the street" or "having grown used
to this harassment." A review of the different
kinds of phrases might be helpful.
Words We Use to Talk about Clauses
Learning the various terms used to define and
classify clauses can be a vocabulary lesson in
itself. This digital handout categorizes clauses
into independent and dependent clauses. This
simply means that some clauses can stand by
themselves, as separate sentences, and some
can't. Another term for dependent clause is
 subordinate clause: this means that the clause is
subordinate to another element (the independent
clause) and depends on that other element for its
meaning. The subordinate clause is created by a
subordinating conjunction or dependent word.

An independent clause, "She is older than her

brother" (which could be its own sentence), can
be turned into a dependent or subordinate clause
when the same group of words begins with a
dependent word (or a subordinating conjunction
in this case): "Because she is older than her
brother, she tells him what to do."
Clauses are also classified as restrictive and
nonrestrictive clauses. (The words essential and
nonessential are sometimes used and mean the
same thing as restrictive and nonrestrictive,
respectively. British grammarians will make this
same distinction by referring to clauses with the
terms defining and non-defining.) A
nonrestrictive clause is not essential to the
meaning of the sentence; it can be removed from
the sentence without changing its basic
meaning. Nonrestrictive clauses are often set
apart from the rest of the sentence by a comma
or a pair of commas (if it's in the middle of a
sentence).
Professor Villa, who used to be a secretary for the
President, can type 132 words a minute.
Review the Notorious Confusables section on the
difference between That and Which for additional
 clarification on the distinction between restrictive
and nonrestrictive.
Relative clauses are dependent clauses introduced
by a Relative Pronoun (that, which, whichever, who,
whoever, whom, whomever, whose, and of
which). Relative clauses can be either restrictive
or nonrestrictive. Review the section on Comma
Usage for additional help in determining whether
relative clauses are restrictive or nonrestrictive
(parenthetical or not) and whether commas
should be used to set them off from the rest of
the sentence. In a relative clause, the relative
pronoun is the subject of the verb (remember
that all clauses contain a subject-verb
relationship) and refers to (relates to) something
preceding the clause.
Giuseppe said that the plantar wart, which had been
bothering him for years, had to be removed.
(In this sentence, the clause in this color is a
restrictive [essential] clause [a noun clause —
see below] and will not be set off by a comma;
the underlined relative clause [modifying "wart"]
is nonrestrictive [nonessential — it can be
removed from the sentence without changing the
meaning of the sentence] and is set off by
commas.)
Some relative clauses will refer to more than a single
word in the preceding text; they can modify an
entire clause or even a series of clauses.
Charlie didn't get the job in administration, which
really surprised his friends.
Charlie didn't get the job in administration, and
he didn't even apply for the Dean's position,
which really surprised his friends.
A relative clause that refers to or modifies entire
clauses in this manner is called a sentential
clause. Sometimes the "which" of a sentential
clause will get tucked into the clause as the
determiner of a noun:
Charlie might very well take a job as headmaster, in
which case the school might as well close down.
Elliptical Clauses: see below.
Finally, everybody's favorite clause is the Santa
Clause, which needs no further definition:

Independent Clauses
Independent Clauses could stand by themselves as
discrete sentences, except that when they do
stand by themselves, separated from other
clauses, they're normally referred to simply as
sentences, not clauses. The ability to recognize a
clause and to know when a clause is capable of
acting as an independent unit is essential to
correct writing and is especially helpful in
avoiding sentence fragments and run-on sentences..
Needless to say, it is important to learn how to
combine independent clauses into larger units of
thought. In the following sentence, for example,
Bob didn't mean to do it, but he did it anyway.
we have two independent clauses — "Bob didn't
mean to do it" and "he did it anyway" —
connected by a comma and a coordinating
conjunction ("but"). If the word "but" is missing
from this sentence, the sentence would be called
a comma splice: two independent clauses would
be incorrectly connected, smooshed together,
with only a comma between them. Furthermore, a
long series of clauses of similar structure and
length begins to feel monotonous, leading to
what is called "Dick and Jane" or primer
language (after the kind of prose that we find in
first grade textbooks or "primers"). (See the
section on Avoiding Primer Language for advice and
exercises on combining sentences.) It would also
be helpful at this time to review the section on
Punctuation Between Two Independent Clauses.

Clauses are combined in three different ways:

coordination, subordination, and by means of a
semicolon. Coordination involves joining
independent clauses with one of the coordinating
conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, and
sometimes* so. Clauses thus connected are
usually nicely balanced in length and import.
Ramonita thought about joining the church choir,
but she never talked to her friends about it.
Subordination involves turning one of the clauses
into a subordinate element (one that cannot
stand on its own) through the use of a
Subordinating Conjunction (sometimes called a
dependent word) or a Relative Pronoun. When the
clause begins with a subordinating word, it is no
longer an independent clause; it is called a
dependent or subordinate clause because it
depends on something else (the independent
clause) for its meaning. There are other ways of
combining ideas — by turning independent
clauses into various kinds of modifying phrases.
Again, see the section on Avoiding Primer Language.
Although Ramonita often thought about joining the
choir, she never talked to her friends about it.
Ramonita never talked to her friends about joining
the choir, because she was afraid they would
make fun of her.
Yasmin is Ramonita's sister. Yasmin told Ramonita
to join the choir no matter what her friends said.
Joining these with the use of a relative clause:
Yasmin, [who is] Ramonita's sister, told
Ramonita to join the choir. . . .
Semicolonscan connect two independent clauses with
or without the help of a conjunctive adverb (transitional
expression). Semicolons should be used sparingly
and only when the two independent clauses
involved are closely related and nicely balanced
in terms of length and import.
Ramonita has such a beautiful voice; many couples
have asked her to sing at their wedding.
Ramonita's voice has a clear, angelic quality;
furthermore, she clearly enjoys using it.
(Click on the words semicolons and conjunctive
adverb above for further help with their use.)
Take these two quizzes on recognizing independent
clauses before proceeding to the section on
dependent clauses.

Recognizing Independent Clauses

Recognizing Independent Clauses II

Dependent Clauses
Dependent Clauses cannot stand by themselves and
make good sense. They must be combined with
an independent clause so that they become part
of a sentence that can stand by itself. (Review
the section on Commas Usage for advice and plenty
 of exercises on the punctuation requirements
when dependent and independent clauses are
combined.) Unlike independent clauses, which
simply are what they are, dependent clauses are
said to perform various functions within a
sentence. They act either in the capacity of some
kind of noun or as some kind of modifier. There
are three basic kinds of dependent clauses,
categorized according to their function in the
sentence. Remember that a dependent clause
always contains a subject and a verb, but it
cannot stand by itself.
Adverb clauses provide information about what is
going on in the main (independent) clause:
where, when, or why. "When the movie is over,
we'll go downtown." or "John wanted to write a
book because he had so much to say about the
subject."
Adjective clauses work like multi-word adjectives.
"My brother, who is an engineer, figured it out for
me." or "The bridge that collapsed in the winter
storm will cost millions to replace." A special
kind of adjective clause begins with a relative
adverb (where, when, and why) but nonetheless
functions as adjectivally.
Noun clauses can do anything that nouns can do.
"What he knows [subject] is no concern of mine."
or "Do you know what he knows [object]?" or
"What can you tell me about what he has done
this year [object of the preposition "about"]?"
What they did with the treasure
remains a mystery.
Whatever you want for
dessert is fine with me.
That you should feel this
way about her came as a
great surprise to us.
Juan finally revealed what he
had done with the money.
Her husband spent
whatever she had saved
over the years.
I don't know what I should
do next.
In fact, he wrote a book about
what he had done over the
years.
We are interested in what
he does for a living.
The trouble was that they had
never been there before.
The biggest disappointment
of last season was that the
women's team didn't make
it to the final four.
My brother, who now teaches
math in a small college,
never liked math in high
school.
The dealership that sold
more cars ended up
 actually losing money.
The Federated Bank, which
was founded nearly two
centuries ago, folded during
the state's economic crisis.
The team had fallen behind by
ten points before they were
able to figure out the
opponent's defense.
Since he started working
nights, he doesn't see much
of his kids.
While Josie sat inside
watching television, Gladys
shoveled the driveway.

Combinations of Clauses
Review the section on Sentence Variety for help in
understanding the variety of sentence patterns. It
is difficult to know if you're using different
patterns unless you keep in mind the way that
clauses are combined in larger sentence-units of
thought. Pay special attention to the variety of
sentence types: simple, compound, complex,
and compound-complex sentences. These are
defined by their essential ingredients, the
clauses that make them up. There is also a quiz
at the end of that section that will test your ability
to distinguish among the kinds of clauses that
make up a sentence.
Elliptical Clauses
Elliptical Clauses are grammatically incomplete in
the sense that they are missing either the relative
pronoun (dependent word) that normally
introduces such a clause or something from the
predicate in the second part of a comparison.
The missing parts of the elliptical clause can be
guessed from the context and most readers are
not aware that anything is missing. In fact,
elliptical clauses are regarded as both useful and
correct, even in formal prose, because they are
often elegant, efficient means of expression. (The
omitted words are noted in brackets below).
Coach Espinoza knew [that] this team would be the
best [that] she had coached in recent years.
Though [they were] sometimes nervous on the
court, her recruits proved to be hard workers.
Sometimes the veterans knew the recruits could
play better than they [could play].

*The conjunction "so" is sometimes a coordinating

conjunction — "The sun is high in the sky right
now, so put on some sunscreen." — but it often
serves as a subordinating conjunction: "Pedrito
kept looking in the rearview mirror so he could
see his brother driving the truck behind him."