the building blocks of sentences Clauses and Phrases

Clauses �Clauses are subjects and predicates working together. A sentence can have as few as one clause, or it may have many clauses. Clauses are to sentences what rooms are to houses. A sentence may have only one clause like a studio may have only one room, or a sentence may have many clauses like a house may have many rooms. Clauses are the building blocks of longer sentences.

Examples of Clauses �I took the dog to the park. The example has one subject, I, and one predicate, took. Since they are working together to form a good sentence, this sentence has one clause. �I love learning, so I spend a lot of time reading. This example has two predicates: love and spend. Since they are each working together with separate subjects, this sentence has two clauses. Notice the comma separating the clauses.

Independent Clauses �An independent clause is a clause that expresses a complete thought and can stand alone.

Dependent Clauses �A dependent, or subordinate, clause is a clause that does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone. It just gives extra information.

Common Dependent Words (Subordinating Conjunctions)

Is It an Independent Clause or a Dependent Clause? Curt called his father who was still at work. � Curt called his father is an independent clause. It would be a complete sentence without anything else added to it. � The clause who was still at work is a dependent clause. It is not a complete thought and is not a complete sentence. � Do you see the subordinating conjunction in the dependent clause?

Is It an Independent Clause (I) or a Dependent Clause (D)? 1. The teacher who lives next door to Rob is Mrs. Johnson. 2. Because the storm knocked out the power, school will be canceled on Thursday. 3. This is the homework assignment that you missed last week. 4. Victoria heard what her sister said, but she ignored it.

Find the dependent clause. 5. The movie was good although it was too long. 6. Our dog will run away if the gate is left open. 7. The moon shone on the ocean while the whales rose to the surface. 8. At the end of his class, Jim walked to his locker where the coach was waiting.

Subject and Predicate �Now go back to the two previous slides and look at the INDEPENDENT CLAUSE. �That is where you will find the simple subject and simple predicate. �Underline each simple subject. �Circle each simple predicate.

ANSWERS: 1. The teacher who lives next door to Rob is Mrs. Johnson. 2. Because the storm knocked out the power, school will be canceled on Thursday. 3. This is the homework assignment that you missed last week. 4. Victoria heard what her sister said, but she ignored it. Green = dependent clauses. Red = independent clauses.

ANSWERS: 5. The movie was good although it was too long. 6. Our dog will run away if the gate is left open. 7. The moon shone on the ocean while the whales rose to the surface. 8. At the end of his class, Jim walked to his locker where the coach was waiting.

Phrases �A phrase is a group of words related to the subject, predicate, or object. �Phrases give additional information about the subject, predicate, or object in the sentence, but they do not have a subject. �Phrases do not contain a subject and a predicate, or we would call them clauses.

Phrases leaving behind the dog �You after the tornado smashing into a fence broken into thousands of pieces before the first test because of her glittering smile might find nouns (dog, fence, test, tornado, thousands, pieces). �There may be some verbs (leaving, smashing). �But in no case is the noun or verb a subject or a predicate.

Phrases �Using the phrases from the above slide, turn to a partner and make them into interesting sentences.

Phrases � After working late into the night, Jack fell asleep on his desk. The bolded phrase provides additional information about our subject, Jack, but can not stand alone and does not have its own subject. � I left my keys inside of the Whole Foods, my favorite grocery store. The predicate is left and the subject is I. On the other side of the sentence we have a phrase that provides additional information about the object of the sentence Whole Foods. Note that a phrase can come at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.

On your note sheet, mark: P if it is a phrase D if it is a dependent clause I if it is an independent clause. � 1. Over my head � 2. Because I was afraid � 3. I didn’t get very much sleep � 4. That night � 5. I knew what happened � 6. So that I could get some rest � 7. I heard the cat’s meow � 8. Sitting by the broken plate licking the crumbs � 9. When I finally got up � 10. I got so tired Now you finish the next five.

On your note sheet, mark: P if it is a phrase D if it is a dependent clause I if it is an independent clause. � 11. Even though I counted sheep � 12. Ear plugs would be a good investment � 13. I never realized how losing sleep affected me � 14. The next day � 15. When I got to work � 16. I forgot to lock the door of my car � 17. Walking into the parking garage � 18. Did you ever get a strange feeling that someone was around you � 19. On the back of my neck � 20. All because I hadn’t had enough sleep

ANSWERS: Phrase, dependent clause, independent clause 1. Over my head 2. Because I was afraid 3. I didn’t get very much sleep 4. That night 5. I knew what happened 6. So that I could get some rest 7. I heard the cat’s meow 8. Sitting by the broken plate licking the crumbs 9. When I finally got up 10. I got so tired 11. Even though I counted sheep 12. Ear plugs would be a good investment 13. I never realized how losing sleep affected me 14. The next day 15. When I got to work 16. I forgot to lock the door of my car 17. Walking into the parking garage 18. Did you ever get a strange feeling that someone was around you 19. On the back of my neck 20. All because I hadn’t had enough sleep