Clauses
Clauses are the building blocks of sentences. A clause is a group of words that contains (at least) a subject and a verb.
These are clauses: These are not clauses:
Ecology is a science to protect the environment
Because pollution causes cancer after working all day
There are two kinds of clauses: independent and dependent.
Independent clauses
An independent clause contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. It can stand alone as a sentence by itself. An independent clause is formed with
Subject + verb (+complement)
Students normally spend four years in college.I will declare my major now, but I may change it later.
Many international students experience culture shock when they
come to the United States
Dependent clauses
A dependent clause begins with a subordinator such as when,
while, if, that, or who.
A dependent clause does not express a complete thought and
cannot stand alone as a sentence by itself. A dependent clause is
formed with
Subordinator + subject + verb (+complement)
…although students normally spend four years in college……if I declare my major now…
…when they come to the United States…
…who was accepted at Harvard University…
…that the experiment was a success…
Clause Connectors
Three groups of words are used to connect clauses in order to form
different kinds of sentences. They are subordinators (subordinating
conjunctions), coordinators (coordinating conjunctions), and
conjunctive adverbs.
CLAUSE CONNECTORS
SUBORDINATORS (SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS)
after before that when
which
although even though though whenever
while
as now unless where
who
as if if until wherever
whom
as soon as since what whether
whose
because so that
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