Sunday, August 07, 2011

Main Clauses and Subordinate Clauses

A clause is a part of a sentence. There are two main types: independent (main clauses), dependent (subordinate clauses).

An independent clause is a complete sentence; it contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought in both context and meaning, for example: The door opened. Independent clauses can be joined by a coordinating conjunction to form complex or compound sentences.
The Co-ordinating Conjunctions are: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet. For example: take two independent clauses and join them together with the conjunction and: " The door opened." "The man walked in." = The door opened and the man walked in.

A dependent (subordinate) clause is part of a sentence; it contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. They can make sense on their own, but, they are dependent on the rest of the sentence for context and meaning. They are usually joined to an independent clause to form a complex sentence.
Dependent clauses often begin with a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (see below) that makes the clause unable to stand alone.
The Subordinating Conjunctions are: after, although, as, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order that, once, provided that, rather than, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, whereas, wherever, whether, while, why.
And the Relative Pronouns are: that, which, whicever, who, whoever, whom, whose, whosever, whomever.
For example:
The door opened because the man pushed it.
I went to the show that was very popular.
The car that is parked in front of the gates will be towed away.


In conclusion, a main clause is a group of words made up of a subject and a predicate. A main clause (unlike a dependent or subordinate clause) can stand alone as a sentence. A main clause is also known as an independent clause. An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself, also known as a simple sentence. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate; it makes sense by itself. Differ with independent clause, a dependent clause (also subordinate clause) is a clause that is used in conjunction with an independent clause and that augments it with additional information. Dependent clauses cannot stand alone as a sentence; instead, they modify the independent clause of a sentence or serve as a component of it.


Sources:
http://www.learnenglish.de/,
http://grammar.about.com/,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/


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