Lesson 9

GLOBAL WRITERS BUREAU ENGLISH GRAMMAR & WRITING STYLE COURSE

LESSON 9

Not all (sentences-within-sentences) are of equal importance. Some clauses do the work of parts of speech, just as phrases do. Since no single part of speech can be as important as a sentence, it stands to reason that a clause which does the work of a part of speech will be a less important clause. So such clauses are called DEPENDENT clauses. They can do the work of adverbs, adjectives and nouns;

1. He walks (how?) AS IF HE WERE TIRED.

Adverb clause

1. I know (what?) THAT HE IS HERE.

Noun clause

1. I spoke to the girl WHO WAS TALLER THAN OTHERS. (what kind of girl? Which girl?)

Adjective clause

None of the italicized clauses above makes full sense by itself. On the other hand, “he walks.” “I know,” “I spoke to the girl” DO make full sense, even by themselves, so they are called MAIN clauses. Sentences containing at least one main clause and at least one subordinate clause are called COMPLEX sentences. Complex sentences should not be confused with COMPOUND sentences which contain main clauses only.

EXERCISE 9:

GIVE THE CORRECT NAME FOR EACH OF THE FOLLOWING;

1. He halted. (A. simple sentence) (B. clause)
2. He halted because he was weary. (A. complex sentence) (B. compound sentence)
3. He halted, but they went on. (A. complex sentences) (B. compound sentence)
4. … when I had gone. (A. dependent clause) (B. main clause)