Dependent Clause

A dependent clause is a clause that provides a sentence element with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence. A dependent clause can either modify an adjacent clause or serve as a component of an independent clause. Some grammarians use the term subordinate clause to refer only to adverbial dependent clauses.

The different types of dependent clauses include content clauses (noun clauses), relative (adjectival) clauses, and adverbial clauses.

In Indo-European languages, a dependent clause usually begins with a dependent word. One kind of dependent word is a subordinating conjunction. Subordinating conjunctions are used to begin dependent clauses known as adverbial clauses, which serve as adverbs.

In the following examples, the adverbial clauses are bold and the subordinating conjunctions are italicized:

• Wherever she goes, she leaves her luggage (The adverbial clause wherever she goes modifies the verb leaves.)
• Bob enjoyed the movie more than I did. (The adverbial clause than I did modifies the adverb more.)

A subordinating conjunction can also introduce a noun clause:

• I know that he likes me. (The noun clause that he likes me serves as the object of the main-clause verb know.)

Another type of dependent word is the relative pronoun. Relative pronouns begin dependent clauses known as relative clauses; these are adjective clauses, because they modify nouns. In the following example, the relative clause is bold and the relative pronoun is italicized:

• The only one of the seven dwarfs who does not have a beard is Dopey. (The adjective clause who does not have a beard describes the pronoun one.)

A relative adverb plays the part of an adverb in a relative clause, as in

• That is the reason why I came. (The relative clause why I came describes the noun reason, and within the relative clause the adverb why modifies the verb came.)
• That is the place where he lives. (The relative clause where he lives describes the noun place, and within the relative clause the adverb where modifies the verb lives.)

An interrogative word can serve as an adverb in a noun clause, as in

• No one understands why you need experience. (The noun clause why you need experience functions as the direct object of the main-clause verb "understands", and within the noun clause why serves as an adverb modifying need.)

Clause

In language, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. A typical clause consists of a subject and a predicate, the latter typically a verb phrase, a verb with any objects and other modifiers. However, the subject is sometimes not said or explicit, often the case in null-subject languages if the subject is retrievable from context, but it sometimes also occurs in other languages such as English (as in imperative sentences and non-finite clauses).

A simple sentence usually consists of a single finite clause with a finite verb that is independent. More complex sentences may contain multiple clauses. Main clauses (matrix clauses, independent clauses) are those that can stand alone as a sentence. Subordinate clauses (embedded clauses, dependent clauses) are those that would be awkward or incomplete if they were alone.

Sentence

A simple sentence consists of only one clause.
A compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses.
A complex sentence has at least one independent clause plus at least one dependent clause.
A set of words with no independent clause may be an incomplete sentence, also called a sentence fragment.
A sentence consisting of at least one dependent clause and at least two independent clauses may be called a complex-compound sentence or compound-complex sentence.

1. I like trains.
2. I don't know how to bake, so I buy my bread already made.
3. I enjoyed the apple pie that you bought for me.
4. The dog lived in the garden, but the cat, who was smarter, lived inside the house.
5. What an idiot.

Sentence 1 is an example of a simple sentence.
Sentence 2 is compound because "so" is considereda coordinating conjunction in English, and sentence 3 is complex.
Sentence 4 is compound-complex (also known as complex-compound). Example 5 is a sentence fragment.

The simple sentence in example 1 contains one clause.
Example 2 has two clauses (I don't know how to bake and I buy my bread already made), combined into a single sentence with the coordinating conjunction so.
In example 3, I enjoyed the apple pie is an independent clause, and that you bought for me is a dependent clause; the sentence is thus complex.
In sentence 4, The dog lived in the garden and the cat lived inside the house are both independent clauses; who was smarter is a dependent clause.
Example 5 features a noun phrase but no verb. It is not a grammatically complete clause.

Independent clause

An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a simple sentence. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense with another word(s).

Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or by using a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet)

Examples

In the following example sentence, independent clauses are in italic, and conjunctions are in bold. Single independent clauses:

• I have enough money to buy an ice cream cone.
• My favourite flavour is chocolate.

Multiple independent clauses:

• I have enough money to buy an ice cream cone; my favourite flavour is chocolate.
• I have enough money to buy an ice cream cone, so let's go to the shop.

Relative Clause

A relative clause is a kind of subordinate clause that contains the element whose interpretation is provided by an antecedent on which the subordinate clause is grammatically dependent; that is, there is an anaphoric relation between the relativized element in the relative clause and antecedent on which it depends.

Typically, a relative clause modifies a noun or noun phrase, and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments within the relative clause has the same referent as that noun or noun phrase. For example, in the sentence *I met a man who wasn't there*, the subordinate clause who wasn't there is a relative clause, since it modifies the noun man, and uses the pronoun who to indicate that the same "man" is referred to within the subordinate clause (in this case, as its subject).

In many European languages, relative clauses are introduced by a special class of pronouns called relative pronouns, such as who in the example just given.

Restrictive and Non-restrictive

Bound relative clauses may or may not be restrictive. Whereas a non-restrictive or non-defining relative clause merely provides supplementary information, a restrictive or defining relative clause modifies the meaning of its head word (restricts its possible referent).

For example:

• *The man who lives in this house has not been seen for days. This (who lives in this house*) is a restrictive relative clause, modifying the meaning of man, and essential to the sentence (if the clause were omitted, it would no longer be known which man is being referred to). If the bold part is deleted the remaining part does not provide the sense.
• The mayor, who lives in this house, has not been seen for days. This is a non-restrictive relative clause, since it provides supplementary information about the mayor, but is not essential to the sentence – if the clause were omitted, it would still be known which mayor is meant. If the bold part is deleted the remaining part provides the sense. In speaking it is natural to make slight pauses around non-restrictive clauses, and in English this is shown in writing by commas (as in the examples).

Another difference in English is that only restrictive relative clauses may be introduced with that or use the "zero" relative pronoun. In colloquial speech, a non-restrictive relative clause may have a whole sentence as its antecedent rather than a specific noun phrase; for example:

• *The cat was allowed on the bed, which annoyed the dog*.

Here, the context of the sentence (presumably) indicates that which refers not to the bed or the cat but to the entire proposition expressed in the main clause, namely the circumstance that the cat was allowed on the bed. Such constructions are discouraged in formal usage and in texts written for nonnative speakers because of the potential for ambiguity in parsing; a construction more accepted in formal usage would be The cat's being [or having been] allowed on the bed annoyed the dog.

Finite and Non-Finite

Relative clauses may be either finite clauses (as in the examples above) or non-finite clauses. An example of a non-finite relative clause in English is the infinitive clause on whom to rely, in the sentence "She is the person on whom to rely".

Relative Clauses in English

In English, a relative clause follows the noun it modifies. It is generally indicated by a relative pronoun at the start of the clause, although sometimes simply by word order. If the relative pronoun is the object of the verb in the relative clause, it comes at the beginning of the clause even though it would come at the end of an independent clause ("He is the man whom I saw", not "He is the man I saw whom"). The choice of relative pronoun can be affected by whether the clause modifies a human or non-human noun, by whether the clause is restrictive or not, and by the role (subject, direct object, or the like) of the relative pronoun in the relative clause.

• For a human antecedent, "who", "whom", or "that" is usually used ("He is the person who saw me", "He is the person whom I saw", "He is the person that I saw"). For a non-human antecedent, only "that" or "which" is used.
• For a non-human antecedent in a non-restrictive clause, only "which" is used ("The tree, which fell, is over there"); while either "which" or "that" may be used in a restrictive clause ("The tree which fell is over there", "The tree that fell is over there")—but some styles and prescriptive grammars require the use of "that" in the restrictive context.
• Of the relative pronoun pair "who" and "whom", the subjective case form ("who") is used if it is the subject of the relative clause ("He is the policeman who saw me"); and, in formal usage, the objective case form ("whom") if it is the object of the verb or preposition in the relative clause ("He is the policeman whom I saw", "He is the policeman whom I talked to", "He is the policeman to whom I talked"); but in informal usage "whom" is often replaced by "who".

In English, non-restrictive relative clauses are set off with commas, but restrictive ones are not:

• "I met a man and a woman yesterday. The woman, who had a thick French accent, was very pretty." (non-restrictive—does not narrow down who is being talked about)
• "I met two women yesterday, one with a thick French accent and one with a mild Italian one. The woman who had the thick French accent was very pretty." (restrictive—adds information about who is being referred to)The status of "that" as a relative pronoun is not universally agreed.

Complex Sentence

A complex sentence has one or more dependent clauses (also called subordinate clauses). Since a dependent clause cannot stand on its own as a sentence, complex sentences must also have at least one independent clause. In short, a sentence with one or more dependent clauses and at least one independent clause is a complex sentence.

A sentence with two or more independent clauses plus one or more dependent clauses is called compound-complex or complex-compound.

In addition to a subject and a verb, dependent clauses contain a subordinating conjunction or similar word. There are a large number of subordinating conjunctions in English. Some of these give the clause an adverbial function, specifying time, place, or manner. Such clauses are called adverbial clauses.

When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind. (S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders))
This complex sentence contains an adverbial clause, When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house. The adverbial clause describes when the action of the main clause, I had only two things on my mind, took place. A relative clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun or noun phrase in the independent clause. In other words, the relative clause functions similar to an adjective.

• Let him who has been deceived complain. (Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote)
• You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. (J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

A noun clause is a dependent clause that functions like a noun.

In the first example, the restrictive relative clause who has been deceived specifies or defines the meaning of him in the independent clause, Let him complain.

In the second example, the non-restrictive relative clause who have never known your family describes you in the independent clause, You see them standing around you.

A noun clause may function as the subject of a clause, or as a predicate nominative or an object.
What she had realised was that love was that moment when your heart was about to burst. (Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
In this sentence the independent clause contains two noun clauses.
The noun clause What she had realized serves as the subject of the verb was, and that love was that moment serves as complement. The sentence also contains a relative clause, when your heart was about to burst.

B1 / Intermediate

A CEFR B1 level English language user is considered to be at an intermediate level. A B1 level English language user is expected to have the following abilities:

• Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment).
• Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters.
• Can describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
• Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
• Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
• Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

At B1 level, English language users are expected to have a basic level of proficiency in the language. They should be able to understand and produce language in simple and routine tasks, and be able to communicate in familiar and routine matters. They should be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters and be able to produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest. They are able to express themselves with a degree of fluency, but with some hesitation, and occasional errors in grammar and vocabulary.

B1 | Intermediate.

Difficulty: Medium

Medium difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.