A clause is a group of related words that contains at a minimum a subject and verb.
Clause, as opposed to phrases, will stand on their own as a complete idea.
Look at some examples of clauses:
Knowing the difference between dependent and independent clauses will be of crucial importance when you learn about the four sentence types.
Clauses that stand on their own as a complete thought are Independent Clauses. Here is an independent clause:
The tutor discussed the paper with the student.
Some clauses, however, even though they still contain a subject and verb, cannot stand on their own as a complete thought. These are Dependent Clauses (also known are subordinates clauses).
Let’s add a dependent clause to the previous sentence:
In the dependent clause:
The dependent clause modifies tutor, clarifying which tutor discussed the paper.
Subordinating Conjunctions signal dependent clauses.
There are two types of Dependent (Subordinate ) Clauses:
Adjective Subordinate Clauses, as the adjective in the name suggests, modify a noun in a sentence.
Most adjective subordinate clauses will usually begin with a relative pronoun:
An adjective clause will give a certain type of information about a person, thing, concept, living creature, or place.
Here are some examples using each of the words in the list:
In some of these cases, you may actually choose to omit the relative pronoun for stylistic reasons. Instead of “Do you remember the day when you lost your phone?”, you can simply write, “Do you remember the day you lost your phone?” In either case, you are modifying the noun “day,” but the adjective clause is not as obvious when you leave out the relative pronoun “when.”
When you use an adjective subordinate clause, you will need to decide whether it is a:
adjective subordinate clause.
| Clause | Punctuation | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Restrictive | no comma(s) | when you needs to distinguish the noun from the others. narrows down all of the possibilities of the noun into one specific reference |
| Non-restrictive | comma(s) | it just adds information about the noun, does not restrict, or limit, the noun to a particular specific reference |
In many cases, you will find that:
However, this is not always the case. If you get used to thinking through the difference, you will know when to use a comma and when not to.
You need to decide whether or not the description is essential to distinguishing the noun from other nouns or not. Look at some examples:
“who was wearing a blue bandana” is restrictive because the writer needs to distinguish the guy from the other people at the dance.)
“which was faded” is non-restrictive because the writer is merely adding information about the bandana.
The distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses is less important while you are drafting, but it is quite important during the editing stage of the writing process.
Adverb subordinate clauses, as the name suggests, will modify a verb by describing:
These clauses will be added to a sentence to provide additional description and information.
The most noticeable characteristic of adverb subordinate clauses is that they will begin with one of the subordinate conjunctions
Although adverb subordinate clauses contain at least one subject and one verb, they begin with words that make them dependent. In other words, these clauses have to be attached to independent clauses that provide additional information in order for them to make sense.
Let’s look at some examples:
For each of the above, notice how we have answered a potential question the reader might ask. Adverb clauses will:
In the first example above, the adverb clause clarifies why Fiona is “bringing” the umbrella. Also, when you learn about the four sentence types, you will discover that adverb clauses create a unique type of sentence.
Adverb Subordinate Clauses require a comma if they are placed before the main clause. You are free to place an adverb subordinate clause before or after the main clause. Here are some examples:
The rule is simply to place a comma after the clause if it precedes the main sentence, but generally to omit the comma if it appears after the main sentence.
To review, there are two rules to remember when punctuating adverb subordinate clauses:
There is, however, an exception to rule #2: If the clause comes at the end of the sentence and is contrasting or contradictory, then you insert a comma. For example:
In this case, you use a comma because the clause comes at the end of the sentence and is also a contradictory idea.
Which of the versions of sentences above do you prefer? Which placement (before or after) gets your attention and produces a strong sentence? Your answers to these questions will help you to begin to think about your writing style.
For greater emphasis, many writers will place adverb subordinate clauses at the beginning of their sentences rather than after. This is also true of many arguments when writers qualify their position before stating their main argument.