Clauses

Clauses are the building blocks of sentences: every sentence consists of one or more clauses.

A clause is a collection of words including a predicate and a subject. A collection of words without
a subject or without a predicate is called a phrase.

Phrase, Clause, Sentence

We’ll start with phrases, clauses, and sentences. How do we differentiate these three items?
· A phrase is a group of related words.
· A clause is a group of related words that contains both a subject and verb(predicate).
· A sentence is an independent clause that may or may not be combined with other clauses
to convey a complete, and sometimes complex, thought.

You must be able to recognize phrases, sentences, and clauses so that you can tell whether you
have written complete sentences.

To determine whether a group of words is a phrase or a clause, you must be able to find the
subject and predicate.

The predicate is the part of a sentence that asserts something about the subject. It expresses
action or state of being. It typically describes a property of the person or thing referred to by the
subject, or describes a situation in which this person or thing plays some role. In elementary
clauses describing an action, the subject normally indicates the actor, the person or thing
performing the action, while the predicate describes the action

The subject is the part of a sentence that tells who or what the sentence is about. To find the
subject, ask who or what is doing something.
To determine the subject of a sentence, first isolate the verb and then make a question by placing
"who?" or "what?" before it -- the answer is the subject.

The audience littered the theatre floor with torn wrappings and spilled popcorn.

The verb in the above sentence is "littered." Who or what littered? The audience did. "The
audience" is the subject of the sentence. The predicate (which always includes the verb) goes on
to relate something about the subject: what about the audience? It "littered the theatre floor with
torn wrappings and spilled popcorn

HOT TIP: Because verbs change form to show time (tense), you can locate verbs easily by
forcing a change in a sentence. If you use a word like yesterday, today, or tomorrow at
the start of a sentence whose verb you’re trying to identify, the only word that changes
will be the verb.
Examples: Ayesha writes letter to her grandfather.
Yesterday, Ayesha wrote letter to her grandfather.
Tomorrow, Ayesha will write letter to her grandfather.
Since write is the only word that changes, write is the verb.

Once you find the verb, you can easily find the subject by asking who or what does the action of
the verb.

Example: Who writes? Ayesha writes, so Ayesha is the subject of the sentence.

The Structure of a Sentence

While we’re discussing sentences, you should know that there are four types of sentences:
simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. The number of independent and
dependent clauses determines the type of sentence.
· A simple sentence contains one independent clause.

§ Example: Saima went to the store.

· A compound sentence contains two independent clauses that usually are joined in one of
two ways:

o A comma and coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet)

§ Example: Saima went to the store, and she bought some bread.

· A complex sentence contains one independent clause and one or more dependent
clauses.

§ Example: Saima went to the store because she needed bread.

· A compound-complex sentence contains two or more independent clauses and at least

one dependent clause.

§ Example: Saima went to the store, and she bought some bread that she needed.
Using Clauses as Nouns, Adjectives, and Adverbs

If the clause could stand by itself, and form a complete sentence with punctuation, we call the
clause an independent clause. The following are independent clauses:

I despise individuals of low character

The Prime Minister is in Islamabad

We call these independent because these types of clauses can stand independently by
themselves, without any extra words attached, and be complete sentences.

Dependent clauses have a subject doing a verb, but they have a subordinate conjunction placed
in front of the clause. That subordinate conjunction means that the clause can't stand
independently by itself and become a complete sentence. Instead, the dependent clause is
dependent upon another clause--it can't make a complete sentence by itself, even though it has a
subject doing a verb. Here are some examples of dependent clauses:

since she laughs at diffident men

when the students go marching in
because she smiled at him
These clauses simply do not form complete thoughts or sentences by themselves. Those
subordinate conjunctions--since, when, and because--cause the listener to expect some extra
material. The thought is incomplete. If you walked up to a friend in the dorms and said, "since she
laughs at diffident men," and then walked away without adding an independent clause, the friend
would be completely baffled.

Example
independent clause

they left the locker room

dependent adverb clause

after they left the locker room

The first example can easily stand alone as a sentence, but the second cannot -- the reader will
ask what happened "after they left the locker room". Here are some more examples of adverb
clauses expressing the relationships of cause, effect, space, time, and condition:

Adverb Clauses
An adverb clause is a dependent clause which takes the place of an adverb in another clause or
phrase. An adverb clause answers questions such as "when?", "where?", "why?", "with what
goal/result?", and "under what conditions?".

Note how an adverb clause can replace an adverb in the following example:

adverb
The premier gave a speech here.

adverb clause
The premier gave a speech where the workers were striking.

Usually, a subordinating conjunction like "because," "when(ever)," "where(ever)," "since," "after,"

and "so that," will introduce an adverb clause. Note that a dependent adverb clause can never
stand alone as a complete sentence:

adverb
The committee will meet tomorrow.

adverb clause
The committee will meet when the Prime Minister is in Islamabad.

Noun Clauses
A noun clause is an entire clause which takes the place of a noun in another clause or phrase.
Like a noun, a noun clause acts as the subject or object of a verb or the object of a preposition,
answering the questions "who(m)?" or "what?". Consider the following examples:

noun
Their destination is unknown.
noun clause
Where they are going is unknown.

The question "Where are they going?," with a slight change in word order, becomes a noun
clause when used as part of a larger unit -- like the noun "destination," the clause is the subject of
the verb "is."

Adjective Clauses

An adjective clause is a dependent clause which takes the place of an adjective in another clause
or phrase. Like an adjective, an adjective clause modifies a noun or pronoun, answering
questions like "which?" or "what kind of?" Consider the following examples:

Adjective
the red coat

Adjective clause
the coat which I bought yesterday

Like the word "red" in the first example, the dependent clause "which I bought yesterday" in the
second example modifies the noun "coat." Note that an adjective clause usually comes after what
it modifies, while an adjective usually comes before.
Activity

Identifying Clauses

Some of the following passages are clauses, with a predicate (and usually, a subject),
while others are simply phrases. See if you can spot the clauses. Remember: a phrase will
not have a subject and a predicate of its own.

I love to eat ice cream

clause
phrase
Answer:
The answer clause is correct.
Explanation:
This is a clause because it contains the subject "I" and the predicate "love to eat ice cream."

the big, bad wolf

Answer:
The answer phrase is correct.
Explanation:
This passage names the wolf, but does not tell the reader what the wolf is doing or what state the
wolf is in, since it does not have a predicate.

rode the bus to Karachi

Answer:
The answer phrase is correct.
Explanation:
Who "rode the bus to Karachi"? This passage has a predicate, but no subject.

they were thinking about the language issue

Answer:
The answer clause is correct.
Explanation:
This passage is clearly a clause, since it expresses a grammatically-complete thought -- it has the
pronoun "they" acting as its subject and the verb phrase "were thinking about the language issue"
acting as its predicate.

Noun, Adjective, and Adverb Clauses

See if you can determine the function of the hilighted dependent clause in each of the following
passages. Remember that a noun clause answers questions like "who(m)?" or "what?"; an
adjective clause answers questions like "which (one)?"; and an adverb clause answers questions
like "when?", "where?", "why?", "with what goal/result?", and "under what conditions?".
Some people buy expensive cars simply because they can.
noun clause
adjective clause
adverb clause
Explanation:

This clause answers the question "why," showing cause, so it is an adverb clause. It does not act
as a subject or object, and it does not modify a noun or pronoun.

Many people hope that Pakistan can resolve its economic problems.
noun clause
adjective clause
adverb clause
Answer:
The answer noun clause is correct.
Explanation:
The clause answers the question "what?", and acts as the direct object of the verb "hope."

The bankers need to know what they should do.

noun clause
adjective clause
adverb clause
Explanation:
This clause does not tell you which bankers need to know, but rather, it tells you what they need
to know -- since it answers the question "what?" (and acts as the direct object of "to know"), it is
a noun clause.

Which one is the person who stole your car?

noun clause
adjective clause
adverb clause
Explanation:
The relative pronoun "who" might have confused you here; however, the clause itself does not
answer the question "who?", but the question "which person?", showing that it modifies the noun
"person" and is acting as an adjective clause.

The books, which the teacher assigned, were very expensive.

noun clause
adjective clause
adverb clause
Explanation:
This clause modifies the noun "books," and modifying a noun or pronoun is the function of an
adjective or (in this case) of an adjective clause.

Wherever there is a large Pakistani city, there will be poverty.

noun clause
adjective clause
adverb clause
Explanation:
This clause tells where poverty will exist, and specifying a location is the function of an adverb or
(in this case) of an adverb clause.

Closing

A clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. It may
be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate. The most basic kind of
sentence consists of a single clause. More complicated sentences may contain multiple clauses,
including clauses contained within clauses. Clauses are divided into two categories: independent
clauses and dependent clauses. Independent clauses can be easily differentiated from
dependent clauses by their ability to stand by themselves, even when connected with different
clauses in the same sentence. A sentence made up of just one clause, which can stand by itself,
is made up of an independent clause. Dependent clauses would be awkward or nonsensical if
they were to stand by themselves, and therefore require an independent clause in the same
sentence.