Thursday, March 11, 2010

Clauses

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Let's find out more about the fun world of sentences, specifically, clauses. If writing is your passion, then having a solid knowledge of what makes a sentence work and what doesn't will separate your writing from the rest.

Different Types of Clauses

Sentences may contain these different types of clauses:

Phrase

A phrase is a group of words that lacks a subject, a verb, or both. Phrases cannot stand alone; they add information to the sentence.

Examples:


to the store
in a hurry
past the window


Independent Clause

An independent clause is a group of words that consist of a subject and a verb but depends on another clause to complete the thought. A dependent clause begins with a connector (or subordinator): if, when, because, although, since, which, or that – and prevents the sentence from standing alone.

Examples:


because I was late
when they arrived
since we're here




Next week we'll take a look at what joins clauses—conjunctions. See you then!



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Source: Grammar Done Right!



16 comments:

  1. Thanks for the reminder. It's been awhile since I've thought about clauses!

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  2. Thanks! I love these tutorials. They are great refreshers.
    Thanks again!

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  3. As always great reminders. Love the kiittes.

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  4. You realy do need to write a grammar book! No one does these posts better and makes them as easy to understand & remember as you do!

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  5. Very helpful and easy to understand as always! Thanks!

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  6. Conjunction junction, what's your function? Everybody sing with me!

    Rocko and Spunky would like to add that they have clawses too!

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  7. Talli, Christine, Mason and Allysa: Thank you so much. It's so rewarding for me to hear that my tutorials are helpful and – most importantly – easy to understand! I appreciate your visits and comments!

    Chris: LOL - you've mentioned that a couple of times and you know, I'm thinking about it! Sometimes I use several books while researching my posts and very few are succinct and understandable for people unfamiliar with the "rules!" It's frustrating for me so I can only imagine what it's like for some of you writers and authors!

    Diane: OMC! I just got up off the floor, having fallen off my chair laughing my b*tt off! Purrrfect comment!! Love it! ♥

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  8. I do love your posts, they have such great information. Suggestion for a future post: proper use of commas with clauses. Such as: In the morning he went to work -or- In the morning, he went to work. Maybe it's elementary, but I see it different ways different places and wonder if there are rules here I don't know about.

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  9. Glad I could make you laugh! That really was the first thing that came to mind...

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  10. This is very helpful for me. Thank you :o)

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  11. You all are the best! Thanks everyone!

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  12. Add me as someone who remembers "conjunction junction" -- but as a mom, watching with her kids. Wish grammar had been that much fun when I was in school.

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