Clauses and their Types with Examples

Clauses and their Types with Explanation and Examples

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In English grammar, clauses and their types play a key role in sentence formation. A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. It can express a complete thought or provide additional information. Learning about the different types of clauses, such as independent and dependent clauses, is essential for improving sentence structure and overall communication skills.

What is a clause?

A clause is a combination of related words that contains its own subject and predicate. It may or may not make complete sense. it is usually a part of a large sentence (complex and compound sentence).

For example, she was eating an apple.

In this sentence “she was eating an apple” is a clause because it has the subject she and the verb were eating.

A clause may function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. And a clause is different from a phrase because, unlike phrases, a clause must contain a subject and a verb.

Clauses can be either independent or. dependent, but in a sentence that has an independent and a dependent clause, a comma is used to separate the two if the sentence starts with a dependent clause but if a sentence starts with an independent clause, no comma is required.

A clause can stand as a simple sentence, but it cannot always be considered a complete grammatical sentence. Therefore, sentences can consist of one, two, or more clauses.

For example,

She speaks (One clause sentence)
He failed because he was careless. (two clauses sentence)
Although I was sick yesterday, I invited him to dinner and he arrived on time. (three clauses sentence)

Types of clauses

There are different types of clauses such as.

Main or Independent Clauses
Subordinate or Dependent Clauses
Adjective or relative clause
Adverbial clause
Noun clause
Coordinate clause
Conditional clause
Principal clause

Independent clause (main clause)

An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence and gives us complete thought. It remains meaningful even if its dependent clause is removed from the sentence. We can combine two independent clauses with a semicolon or with a comma and coordinators. The most used coordinators are often referred to as the FANBOYS ( for, and, nor, but, or, yet so). Every independent clause follows this pattern.

Subject + verb = complete thought

For example,

She walked
I am going to the gym.
Ali is my student and he is
They can win the match.
He prevented her from teaching.
I am preparing for the exam so I will not attend the party.

All these clauses consist of a subject and a verb, and each clause expresses a complete idea.

Dependent clause (subordinate clause)

A dependent cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. It cannot convey a complete thought. It becomes meaningful when it is attached to the main clause. A dependent clause may contain a subject and a verb, but it cannot make complete sense.

For example,

I don’t know what you want.
He has a watch that is made of gold.
Whenever I meet her, she tells me a new story.

Dependent clauses are further divided into three types, noun, adjective, and adverb clauses.

Noun clauses

A group of words that contains a subject and a verb and functions as a noun in a sentence is called noun clause. However, it can’t make complete sense.

For example,

Can you guess what I have in my pouch?
I love playing football.
You can do whatever you want to do.

Adverbial clauses

A dependent clause functions as an adverb in a sentence is called an adverbial clause. and It gives us additional information about the verb, an adjective, or another adverb by answering questions like when, why, how, where, etc. However, it can’t make complete sense.

For example,

I’m glad that you like it.
His father died when he was a child.
She walked like an old lady.

Adjective clauses

A group of words that contains a subject and verb and act as an adjective in a sentence is called adjective clause. However, it can’t make complete sense. Adjective clauses are also called relative clauses. These clauses gives us additional information about the noun in a sentence.

For example,

The woman who lives next door is a teacher.
I know the place where they met.
The book that I reading nowadays is very interesting.

Coordinate clause

Two or more independent clauses of equal value usually joined by coordinators ( for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so,), and when we combine two independent clauses with coordinating conjunctions we get compound sentences.

For example,

She speaks and he listens.
They wanted to go to the theatre, but it started raining.
I want to buy a car but I don’t have enough money.

Conditional clauses

The conditional clause usually starts with if and unless (only if, even if, whether, or not) and they cannot stand alone without an independent clause. These clauses state the condition which is required to exist for something to happen.

For example,

If you work hard, you will succeed.
Unless you study, you will fail.
She gets very upset if I exclude her.

Principal clauses

A principal clause is an independent clause that can exist without a dependent clause. It has a subject and a verb but it doesn’t give complete thought without the principal part of the sentence. Principal clauses are further divided into four types, declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamative clauses.

For example,