Room 312 - (Enhanced) Indpendent/Dependent Clauses; Book reviews
December 3rd, 2008 — room312Today’s Podcast:
- Independent/Dependent Clauses
- Book Reviews: - Lucky T - Sticks and Stones
Independent and Dependent Clauses (Definitions)
Brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab.
When you want to use commas and semicolons in sentences and when you are concerned about whether a sentence is or is not a fragment, a good way to start is to be able to recognize dependent and independent clauses. The definitions offered here will help you with this.
This handout will:
- define independent and dependent clauses
- explain proper ways to punctuate sentences that use them
- note some common errors to avoid
Definitions
Independent Clause (IC)
An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. An independent clause is a sentence.
Example: Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz. (IC)
Dependent Clause (DC)
A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot be a sentence. Often a dependent clause is marked by a dependent marker word.
Example: When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz . . . (DC)
Dependent Marker Word (DM)
A dependent marker word is a word added to the beginning of an independent clause that makes it into a dependent clause.
Example: When Jim studied in the Sweet Shop for his chemistry quiz, it was very noisy. (DM)
Some common dependent markers are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while.
