Clauses

and
phrases
 1.ANN AND HER WALKING COMPANION FROM CALIFORNIA
  
2.WHEN ANN WAS WALKING
3. ANN WAS WALKING
4. A WALKING STICK
5. ANN IS WALKING
6. ANN IS TAKING A WALK
7. HER WALKING
8. BECAUSE ANN WALKS
9. LET'S JAM THEIR RADIO
TRANSMISSIONS
10. IN A JAM
11. SHE WAS IN A JAM
12. IF IT JAMS
13. JAM ON THE BRAKES HARD
14. A HEAVY, STICKY, OVERLY SWEET JAM
Use a comma before and when it
connects two independent clauses
but not when it connects two
phrases or subordinate clauses.
A good rule of thumb is that
all statements, questions,
and commands are clauses,
but there are also
incomplete sentences that
are clauses ("before I
wake"), so the only sure way
to identify clauses is to find
a subject and a predicate.
•Marley was dead: to begin with.
•There is no doubt whatever about
that.
•The register of his burial was
signed by the clergyman, the clerk,
the undertaker, and the chief
mourner.
•Scrooge signed it.
•The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose,
shriveled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips
blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice.
•The cold within him
froze his old features,
nipped his pointed
nose, shriveled his
cheek, stiffened his
gait; made his eyes
red, his thin lips blue;
and spoke out
shrewdly in his grating
This is a simple
sentence
because, although
it has a number of
verbs, it has only
one subject.
In writing, simple sentences
can be very effective for
grabbing a reader's attention
or for summing up an
argument, but too many
simple sentences can make
your writing seem immature.
A phrase is a collection
of words that may have
nouns or verbals, but it
does not have a subject
doing a verb. The
following are examples
of phrases:
1.leaving behind the dog
2.smashing into a fence
3.before the first test
4.after the devastation
5.between ignorance and
intelligence
6.broken into thousands of
pieces
7.because of her glittering
smile
A clause is a
collection of words
that has a subject
that is actively doing
a verb. The following
are examples of
clauses:
1.since she laughs at diffident
men
2.I despise individuals of low
character
3.when the saints go
marching in
4.Obediah Simpson is uglier
than a rabid racoon
5.because she smiled at him.
If the clause could
stand by itself, and
form a complete
sentence with
punctuation, we call
the clause an
independent
Dependent clauses have a subject
doing a verb, but they have a
subordinate conjunction placed in
front of the clause. That subordinate
conjunction means that the clause
can't stand independently by itself
and become a complete sentence.
Instead, the dependent clause is
dependent upon another clause--it
can't make a complete sentence by
itself, even though it has a subject
doing a verb.
1.since she laughs at
diffident men.
2.when the saints go
marching in
3.because she smiled at
him.
These clauses simply do not form
complete thoughts or sentences by
themselves. Those subordinate
conjunctions--since, when, and
because--cause the listener to expect
some extra material. The thought is
incomplete. If you walked up to a
friend in the dorms and said, "since
she laughs at diffident men," and then
walked away without adding an
independent clause, the friend would
be completely baffled.