Clause: group of words that contains a subject and a verb



The Sentence

COMPLETE SENTENCE or INDEPENDENT CLAUSE: has a subject and a predicate

EXAMPLE: The ball rolled into the driveway.

My sister runs every morning.

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FRAGMENT: is missing a subject, predicate or both.

EXAMPLE: The giant ball. (missing a predicate)

Ran slowly down the hill. (missing a subject)

After the prom. (missing both)

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RUN-ONS: independent clauses that have not been joined properly.

There are two ways to join two independent clauses:

1. Use a conjunction (so, and, or , but) and comma:

The clown is funny, and he makes me laugh.

2. Use a semicolon:

The clown is funny; he makes me laugh.

If you don’t use either of these two methods to join independent clauses, then you end up with a run-on!

There are two kinds of run-on sentences: fused and comma splice

FUSED: The clown is funny he makes me laugh.

COMMA SPLICE: The clown is funny, he makes me laugh.

Clauses: Independent and Dependent

Clause: group of words that contains a subject and a verb.

EXAMPLE:

Some students work in the homeless shelter

because they care about helping others.

This sentence has two clauses, each with a subject and a verb.

Independent Clause: expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.

EXAMPLE

Some students work in the homeless shelter.

Dependent Clause: does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone in a sentence. (also known as subordinate clause)

EXAMPLE

…because they care about helping people.

A dependent clause must be joined to an independent clause.

EXAMPLES

Some students work in the homeless shelter because they care about helping others.

Students also make bag lunches that they distribute at the shelter.

Phrase: does not contain a subject or predicate.

EXAMPLES (prepositional phrase in bold)

Spiders live in many different habitats.

The deer fled into the woods.

MORE EXAMPLES (verbal phrase in bold)

Finish his run, the horse walked for a few minutes.

The teenager wanted to avoid her chores that day.

Simple Sentence: contains one independent clause and no dependent clauses.

EXAMPLES

Shawn tutors.

Benita teaches young children acrobatics after school.

Compound Sentence: contains two or more independent clauses and no dependent clauses.

EXAMPLES

Shawn tutors, and he helps students learn math.

Some children have no toys; volunteers can collect toys for them.

Common mistake: don’t mistake a simple sentence with a compound predicate for a compound sentence. No punctuation should separate the parts of a compound predicate.

EXAMPLE

WRONG: The Newcomers’ Club wrote a clever script, and then filmed it.

CORRECT: The Newcomers’ Club wrote a clever script and then filmed it.

Complex Sentences: contains one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.

EXAMPLES (dependent clause in bold)

When we visited, Mrs. Brodsky shared her memories of working in a shipyard during World War II.

Mr. Ruiz was a photographer until he was drafted.

Mr. Liuzzo, who is a retired pilot, talked to us about his experiences in enemy territory, where he was a prisoner of war.

Compound-Complex Sentence: contains two or more independent clauses and one or more dependent clauses.

EXAMPLES (dependent clause in bold)

When out school celebrates Earth Day, we sign up for environmental projects, and we try to complete them all in one day.

Student have cleaned up the beaches, and they have planted flowers in the parks so that the shore looks inviting to visitors.

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