Clause, Phrase, Coordination, Subordination
- clause (independent and dependent (subordinate),
- phrase,
- coordination, and
- subordination.
The colors are important, as you will see in the following examples. The use of colors will refer to the appropriate term above.
1. A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. There are two types of clauses:
- Independent clauses can stand alone as a sentence. For example, Ramon always sings in the car is an independent clause. Ramon is the subject and sings is the verb.
- Dependent (subordinate) clauses are “dependent” or can’t stand alone. They have a subject and a verb and begin with words like
- if
- even though
- because
- although
- since
- when
- who
- while
- after & before can also introduce dependent clauses IF you use a subject and verb, as in after we got stopped for speeding & before I got my insurance card out of my wallet.
- Double check to make sure you have a complete sentence and not just a dependent clause.
Because Ramon sings is a subordinate, or dependent clause because it can’t stand alone and make sense. What happens after Ramon sings??
2. A prepositional phrase is a group of words that include a preposition plus a noun.
- For example in the children’s song “Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s housewe go” we have three prepositions:
We have three prepositional phrases including Over the river/t hrough the woods/ to grandmother’s house. The nouns are river, woods, and house.
The most common prepositions are:
- "about," "above," "across," "after," "against," "along," "among," "around," "at," "before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside," "between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down," "during," "except," "for," "from," "in," "inside," "into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto," "out," "outside," "over," "past," "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to," "toward," "under," "underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with," "within," and "without."
- http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/preposit.html can give you more information.
A verb phrase includes several verbs which usually indicate the tense (time of an event). Examples are
- should have been watching
- is speeding
- will be ticketed
- has been talking and eating
3. Coordination is joining together things that are alike.
For example, we have coordination in sentences when we add two complete sentences together. We can also say that we are joining two independent clauses together.
Words that join sentences (and independent clauses) for coordination are called coordinating conjunctions and include:
Here are examples of coordination:
- I ordered a #5 combo, and Ramon ordered 6 burgers.
- Jeremy wanted to go to Mt. Bachelor, but we wanted to go to Seaside.
- We could buy gas, or we could buy food.
- We took turns driving, for we knew we had a long way to go.
Hint: Watch punctuation of coordination. Use a comma before the coordinating conjunction. The comma signals the end of one independent clause and the beginning of another independent clause. Here is a way to remember it:
IC , and/but/or/for/so/yet IC .
4. Subordination is adding a dependent clause to an independent clause. We have subordination in sentences such as:
- Because we wanted to make it to Pendleton before night, we decided not to eat.
- We ate chips and pretzels in the car even though we really wanted to stop and get burgers.
Hint: Watch punctuation. Do NOT use a comma if the independent clause comes first in the sentence. Here is a way to remember it:
IC x DC.
Use a comma after the dependent clause if it comes first in the sentence.
DC, IC.
|top|