The Difference Between Dependent and Independent Clauses

Grammar teachers will sometimes talk about dependent and independent clauses. What is the difference between them? The clause depends or does not depend on what?

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And what about the provisions that remain in their parents’ family plans?

First, let’s start with clause. A clause is a part of a sentence that contains a subject and some kind of predicate. The sentence “After the rain stopped, we cycled out” has two clauses: “the rain stopped” and “we cycled out”. Objects rain And we assigned something to do, thus completing the idea.

By definition, a Dependent clause does not by itself form a simple sentence. Also called a Dependent clauseit is connected to the main clause of the sentence by sentence conjunctions such as that thing or When.

Take this example:

I went out on the bike that Mary gave me for my birthday.

The main clause of the sentence is “I rode my bike out”—a complete idea that can stand on its own as a complete sentence. The words that follow (“that Mary was me for my birthday”) are a dependent clause, acting as a subordinate to the main clause. They contain a complete idea in their own right, including the corresponding subject and verb (“Mary gave”), but the existence of the conjunction depends that thing shows that the clause cannot stand on its own as a sentence. It depends on the main clause, because the main clause contains the object (“bike”) to which the verb in the dependent clause (“give”) targets.

ONE independent clauseconversely, can stand alone as a complete single sentence although it usually functions as part of a larger sentence. For a sentence to be complete, all it needs is a subject and a verb: “She gone.” No part of a sentence depends on something expressed outside the sentence.

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In fact, in many cases, the only thing that distinguishes an independent clause from a dependent clause is the presence of a subordinating conjunction. Consider adding a dependent conjunction to these examples:

Independence: We got to the party early.

Dependents: when we get to the party early

Full sentence: The host was surprised when we arrived early to the party.

Independent: Stores don’t open until 10:00 a.m.

Dependents: because the shop doesn’t open until 10:00am

Full sentence: Since the store doesn’t open until 10:00 am, we have time to have breakfast first.

Independent: Rain is forecast.

Depends: even though the forecast calls for rain

Full sentence: Even though the weather forecast called for rain, we continued with our hiking plan.

The dependent clauses in these examples have no meaning of their own as complete ideas, because the subordinating conjunctions attached to them (When, from, in spite of) depends on information outside the clause. (They do sound like pretty normal text messages, though.)

Categories: Usage Notes
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