Dependent Clause
A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought. It relies on an independent clause to form a complete sentence. Dependent clauses often begin with subordinating conjunctions such as "because," "although," or "when." They add complexity and nuance to sentences by providing additional information or context.
5 Key excerpts on "Dependent Clause"
- Barry Lee Reynolds, Mark Feng Teng, Barry Lee Reynolds, Mark Feng Teng(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter Mouton(Publisher)
...(Payne 2010 : 328) To be consistent with most grammar coursebooks and in consideration of the objective to simplify grammar instruction, the current study only considers finite clauses that are structurally or semantically incomplete as Dependent Clauses, which traditionally consist of relative, adverbial, and noun (i.e. nominal) clauses. On the other hand, a sentence segment that contains a non-finite verb is referred to as a phrase. Hence in a Dependent Clause, the first observable clause element is a finite verb. Another clause element is a clause marker, marking the beginning of a Dependent Clause, sometimes manifested as a complementizer (e.g. that), relativizer (e.g. who) or conjunction (e.g. because) (Radford 2009). However, not all Dependent Clauses in English begin with an explicit clause marker. For instance, structures involving epistemic verbs may opt to use a null (i.e. tacit) complementizer, as in: John knows (that) Mary was not telling the truth. Or when a relativizer is the object of a relative clause: That was the lady (whom) we met in the party last Saturday. Note that these clause markers are optional, and by default, English Dependent Clauses have to begin with a clause marker (Radford 2009). On the contrary, there are no lexical clause markers in the Chinese language (Xu and Langendoen 1985). Consequently, Cantonese-speaking students who are of lower EFL proficiency typically omit the English clause markers in their writing. Since the current study targets beginner EFL writers, participants were not informed of the optional clause markers but were instead told to employ a clause marker whenever they wanted to write a sentence that involves a second finite verb...
eBook - ePub- APS Hundal(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Green Sceptre Publishing Australia(Publisher)
...Clauses It is a combination of words in a sentence definitely consisting of a subject and a verb. It is smallest grammatical unit expressing thought. The word “clause” is derived from latin word “clausa”, meaning closing the period. Mainly there are two types of clauses: 1. InDependent Clause 2. Dependent Clause InDependent Clause A group of words having a subject, a verb and making a complete thought. It can alone stand as a sentence. This clause is also called main clause as it alone has enough information to convey complete message. It is also called grammatically complete sentence. It can also be explained as (subject+ verb+ complete thought = inDependent Clause). Example My Dog likes bones. Here subject is the “Dog”, verb is “likes “and sentence is conveying complete thought. Dependent Clause A group of words in a sentence consisting of a subject and a verb yet it expresses incomplete thought, which needs main clause as support to make complete sentence. That’s is why it is called subordinate clause or Dependent Clause. It cannot stand as a complete sentence by itself as it leaves an idea unfinished. For example: The team can’t start playing soccer until coach arrives. (Until coach arrives is a Dependent Clause. It contains subject “coach” and verb “arrives” still the clause is dependent on other to give complete thought.) Further, there are three types in Dependent Clause: • Adjective Clause • Adverb Clause • Noun Clause Adjective clause It is a Dependent Clause that modifies noun or pronoun in the sentence. This clause begins with the words such as: • That • When • Who • Whom • Whose • Which • Why For instance The sports class that Sahil takes focuses on technique. Mr...
eBook - ePubAmerican English Grammar
An Introduction
- Seth R. Katz(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Chapter 10 Clauses “Clause” is a term that covers a whole family of constituents, all of which share the following basic features: A clause always contains a finite verb that acts as the head of a VP:P RED. The verb in a clause always has a nominal functioning as the subject of the verb (N OMINAL :S UBJ). The N OMINAL :S UBJ and the verb agree in number and person. To be formally complete, the VP:P RED in a clause must include all complements required by the verb. In English, the order of the clause is typically Subject-Verb-Complement (SVC). The SVC clause is the unmarked or default structure; other ways of ordering these clause constituents are marked by being transformed from the SVC order. We routinely rearrange clause constituent order in English. To most easily analyze those rearranged clauses, we will first transform them back to their underlying SVC structure. Clauses sound like sentences in that they include a N OMINAL :S UBJ and a VP:P RED ; however, the reality is the other way around: sentences, also known as “inDependent Clauses,” are only one variety of clause. There are also three kinds of Dependent Clauses: Adjective Clauses (A DJ C L), a.k.a. Relative Clauses. Noun Clauses (NC L). Adverb Clauses (A DV C L), a.k.a. Subordinate Clauses. What makes inDependent Clauses different from Dependent Clauses is that inDependent Clauses can stand by themselves as well-formed sentences, while Dependent Clauses cannot; a Dependent Clause is always a constituent within another clause. 1 InDependent Clause : I want to buy that ball. A DJ C L : The ball that I want to buy [ADJCL:MOD OF “ball”] is quite expensive. * That I want to buy. NC L : You know that I want to buy that ball [NCL :DO]. * That I want to buy that ball. A DV C L : I have to save my money because I want to buy that ball [ADVCL:SENTMOD]. * Because I want to buy that ball. Each Dependent Clause comprises an inDependent Clause that has been altered...
eBook - ePubTowards a Contextual Grammar of English
The Clause and its Place in the Definition of Sentence
- Eugene Winter(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The important linguistic point is that the meaning of each word is in some way a function of all the other words in its clause as related by the verb see. For the purposes of discussion, we ignore the question of which words are indispensable to the meaning, though this could be established by a process of eliminating individual items in the clause. Like the word, the clause gains further significance as clause through its semantic connection with the (independent) clauses which adjoin it. By adjoining it, I mean the clauses outside the grammatical boundary of the clause under study. The difference between the relations of words with words and the relations of inDependent Clauses with adjoining inDependent Clauses is that, while words have the very strictly predictable familiar structuring of clause and its parts, inDependent Clauses have the less obviously rigid relations of sequence which is analogous to syntax but necessarily different in its organisation because of its different function in dealting with (independent) clauses as sequenced wholes. We can now take C. C. Fries’s (1952, pp. 21-6) point about spoken utterances as applying equally, if not more so, to written utterances: that we tend to communicate in utterances consisting of one or more inDependent Clauses (including minor sentence), and add to this that we expect them to be significantly sequenced in these utterances and have their own unit boundaries...
eBook - ePub- Richard Hudson(Author)
- 2002(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...9 SUBORDINATE CLAUSE USES To summarise the story so far, verb expansions are called either ‘sentences’ or ‘clauses’ according to whether or not they are complete (in a sense that we have taken for granted so far but which we shall look at rather harder in the next unit). Two (or more) clauses may be coordinated without any subordination (e.g. ‘It rained and we got wet’) but we are concerned in this unit with the ones that are subordinated to some word in the larger sentence. Whereas Unit 8 looked at the ‘signal’ words which introduce subordinate clauses, in this unit we are going to consider the various possible relations between the subordinate clause and the rest of the sentence. Once again the signal words will turn out to be the key to the discussion, because they are generally the words which are directly involved in these external relations. For example: Because it rained we got wet. Loosely speaking the clause ‘because it rained’ is subordinate to the clause ‘we got wet’; but that really is very loose talk. More precisely, we shall find that the word because depends on the word got, and that the word rained depends on the word because —in other words, there is a chain of dependencies: got → because → rained. EXERCISE Subordinate clauses as subjects and objects: noun clauses 9.1 1. Suggest dependency diagrams for the following sentences, bearing in mind what we found in the last two units. Make sure that every word has one arrow. I know she loves me. That she loves me is beyond doubt. Why she loves me baffles me. 2. Subordinate clauses aren’t always as easy as this. Let’s start by creating our own complexities. Using the following words, build a subordinate clause which could be the subject of is in ‘…isn’t clear’...
