Clauses: Characters of Clauses and How to Structure Them

Hello dear reader, welcome back! Today we will be discussing clauses and their importance in speech and writing. Understanding clauses is crucial to creating interesting and effective language.

To begin with, a clause is a complete sentence or group of words that includes a subject and a verb. It can also have an object that serves as additional information, and its typical arrangement is subject + verb (+ object).

There are two types of clauses: independent clauses and dependent clauses.

An independent clause is a complete sentence that can stand alone and is punctuated accordingly.

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On the other hand, a dependent clause is a sentence that cannot stand on its own and must be joined with an independent clause using a subordinate conjunction, such as although, since, if, when, because, etc. Dependent clauses provide added information to independent clauses.

Here are some examples of sentences using clauses, independent clauses, and dependent clauses:

Examples of clauses (subject + verb):

• Anna is swimming.
• Anna is surfing.
• Anna ran away.
• Anna is driving.

Examples of clauses with objects (subject + verb + object):

• Anna is swimming at the beach.
• Anna is surfing on the surfboard.
• Anna ran away from her friends.
• Anna is driving her car.

Examples of independent clauses:

• Anna is swimming.
• Anna is surfing.
• Anna ran away.
• Anna is driving.

Examples of dependent clauses:

• Because Anna is swimming...
• When Anna is surfing...
• Since Anna ran away...
• Although Anna is driving...

Dependent clauses can also function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs:

Clauses as a noun:

• Anna forgot what she did last night. (What she did last night serves as a noun.)
• Anna achieved what she wanted yesterday. (Similar to saying "Anna achieved her goals.")

Clauses as an adjective:

• Anna, who is brave with the ocean waves, is surfing on the fierce waves. (The clause "who is brave with the ocean waves" describes how Anna is.)
• Anna, who loves her family, always brings foods her family loves. (The clause "who loves her family" serves as an adjective.)

Clauses as an adverb:

• Anna jumped off her surfboard when a giant wave hit her. (The clause "when a giant wave hit her" explains when Anna jumped off.)
• Anna was coming home when her mother called her. (The clause "when her mother called her" functions as an adverb.)

In conclusion, being able to read, listen, speak, and write English is a wonderful skill to have, and using tools like ProWritingAid can make proofreading and editing your writing much easier.

Thank you for reading, and have a great day!

Best regards,

Santosa Laksana