The Learning Commons

Clauses

A clause is a group of words which contains both a subject and a verb. There are two important types of clauses to recognize: independent clauses and dependent (or subordinate) clauses.

Independent Clauses:

contain both a subject and a verb and express a complete thought

Examples: (Subjects are italicized and verbs are underlined)

I ran two miles.
Kathleen finished the test first and left the room.
The basement of the house was flooded during the storm.

Dependent Clauses:

contain both a subject and a verb but do not express a complete thought and so depend upon another clause to form a complete sentence

Examples:

because I did not like the music
as I was walking downtown
that we bought yesterday
which was her graduation present

Notice that each of the above examples begins with a subordinating conjunction (a word that introduces a dependent clause). Subordinating conjunctions can be recognized by the fact that they show a relationship between the two clauses.

Common subordinating conjunctions include: after, although, as, as if, because, before, if, since, so that, though, unless, until, when, and while.

The words who, whom, which, and that are relative pronouns because they serve the function of a subordinating conjunction AND relate the dependent clause to a person or object in the independent clause.

Example: