Clauses

1. A clause is a group of words which contain a subject and a predicate (Verb

phrase)
OR
2. A clause is the part of the sentence that contains a subject and a verb

Broadly clauses are categorized into two types.

1) Independent Clause (Main Clause)
2) Dependent Clause (Subordinate Clause)

The difference between an independent and dependent clause is marked by the

type of word they begin with.

An independent clause functions on its own. That is it makes up a complete

sentence.
An independent clause follows this pattern:
Subject + Predicate/Verb = Complete thought
e.g. Lazy students whine.
She works at a café.

Whereas a dependent or subordinate clause follow this

pattern:
Subordinate conjunction + Subject + Verb = Incomplete
thought

e.g. when it started to rain

Wherever they live.
Dependent or subordinate clauses can never stand on their own.
They require to be attached with a main clause in order to complete
the thought/idea.

1. Main clause + Subordinate clause

they ran for cover when it started to rain

2. Subordinate clause + , + Main clause

when it started to rain, they ran for cover

The combination of an independent and dependent clause make up a

complex sentence
Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions join two items ( words , phrases, clauses) of equal

syntactical rank /importance.
Examples of coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.

They slipped and fell over.

She likes scrambled eggs or French toast in the morning.
The old castle looked beautiful yet mysterious.
The turtle won the race slowly but surely.

Coordinating conjunctions join two clauses of equal rank (main clauses) and
make up a compound sentence.
Diabetes is a serious illness, and it is becoming more common (AND adds
information)
Smoking has been linked to health problems, but many people continue to smoke (BUT
contradicts, offers a contrast, or introduces something unexpected. Denials of expectations,
adversative.)

Boris works ten hours a day, yet he has time to volunteer at a homeless shelter (YET expresses
a stronger contrast than but, but at the same time.)

The professor may give the students a take-home exam, or he will have them write research
papers. (OR offers a choice)

The car that the police seized had been in auction, for no one came forward to claim it. (FOR
indicates cause and effect)

The president did not attend his office because of his illness, so someone else gave the
achievement awards on behalf of him (SO means as a result/consequence. It introduces the
effect of cause-effect relationship)

The discussion was not exciting, nor was it informative. (NOR removes alternatives. It tells
what something is not rather than what it is.
Subordinating Conjunction in Subordinate clause

Since the train was on time, passengers were able to board quickly
Working is pleasant even though I would rather be on vacation.
He speaks as if he knows everything.
The citizens were warned before the tornado hit.
Wherever Mary went, the lamb followed.

Types of Subordinate Clause

1. Relative/Adjective clause

A relative clause describes additional information or describes a noun in a sentence. Relative

clause is also known as adjectival modifier.
For example in “Italy is the country which is worst hit by covid-19 pandemic” the part “which
is worst hit by covid-19” describes Italy (Noun) or gives additional information about Italy.
Embedding
Embedding is a process which generates one clause within another higher-order clause or
superordinate clause.
e.g. The fans [who were attending the rock concert] had to wait in line for three hours.

The Relativization of The Subject (In embedded clause)

1. Subject-Subject relatives

The girl who speaks French is my friend. (Subject of the relative/embedded clause “who” refers to
the Subject of the Superordinate clause/main clause “girl”)

2. Object-Subject Relatives

I know the girl who speaks French (Subject of the embedded/relative clause “who” refers to the
Object of the main clause)
The Relativazation of the Object (In the embedded clause)

1. Subject-Object Relatives

The man [whom you met] is my friend ( Subject of the main clause “the man” relates to object of the
embedded clause “whom”)

2. Object-Object Relatives
I read the book [that you mentioned]. (Object of the main clause “book” relates to the object of the
embedded clause “that”).

Order of difficulty of Relative Clauses

2. S-S (Subject of the embedded clause is identical to the subject of the main clause)
2. O-S (Subject of the embedded clause is identical to the object of main clause)
3. S-O (Object of the embedded clause is identical to the subject of the main clause)
4. O-O (Object of the embedded clause is identical to the subject of the main clause)
 The relative pronouns that replace relativized objects are optionally deletable. However
generally speaking, retention of the relative pronouns is preferred over deletion in
writing with a higher frequency of deletion taking place in informal conversations.
Stauble (1978) found that deletion was preferred when the relative pronoun had a
nonhuman antecedent.

For example: The latest novel he wrote is excellent.

 When prepositional objects are relativized, the relative pronoun is either deleted or
fronted and the preposition is left behind in speech, whereas in writing the preposition is
fronted with the relative pronoun and must be “which”.
Speech: War and Peace is the book (that) he was referring to
Writing: War and Peace is the book to which he was referring.
There have been other corpus-based studies of relative clauses in written English
which have uncovered the lexical co-occurrance in relative clause. For example
when “every” modifies the head noun, the relativized object is virtually always
deleted.
For example: Every man we saw had a tattoo

Adverb Clause

A subordinate clause that functions as an adverb in a sentence is called adverb

clause. Just like an adverb it modifies a verb, adjective clause or another
adverbial clause in a sentence.
It modifies/describes the situation in the main clause in terms of time, frequency,
cause-and-effect, contrast, condition, intensity/extent.
Subordinating conjunctions used for Adverb clause are:
When, whenever, whereas, while, though, since, now that, as, long as, as soon
as, until, after, before, although, etc.

1. She had prepared the dinner before the guests arrived

2. He did not attend school today because he is ill.
3. Unless you study for the test you can’t pass it.
4. You are safe as long as you drive safely.
5. Jennifer scrubbed the kitchen floor until her arms ached.

Note: Adverb clauses answer the questions pertaining to “why” “when” “How”
and “Where”.
Noun Clause
A dependent clause which acts a noun in the main clause. Noun clauses begin with words such as
how, that, what, whatever, when, where, whether, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom,
whomever, why.
Noun clauses can act as a subject of the sentence, direct object, indirect objects, predicate nominatives
(subject compliment) or objects of preposition.

Noun Clause as a subject of the sentence.

1. Whoever thought of the idea is a genius.

2. Whichever restaurant you pick is fine with me.

Noun Clause as a direct object of the sentence.

1. We can do whatever we want on the weekends

Do you know what the cost of it will be.

Noun Clause as an indirect object of the sentence

1. Always give whoever you consider your best friend , your best advice.

2. Be sure to send whoever interviewed you a thank-you note.

Noun Clause as a predicate nominative (Subject compliment)

1. The focus of our work is how we can satisfy customers most effectively.

2. My greatest quality is that I am a hard worker

Noun Clause as an object of the preposition

1. Choose a gift for whomever you want

2. It’s important to think about why we make certain decisions

3. I am packing extra sandwiches for when we get hungry