Clauses

Introduction

Clauses are groups of related words that contain a subject and a verb. There are two main types of clauses: independent (or main) clauses and dependent (or subordinate) clauses. Dependent clauses have two subtypes, adjective clauses and noun clauses.

When writing, it’s important to be able to identify clauses to avoid sentence fragments and to use parts of speech and punctuation correctly. So, let’s get into it!

Independent clauses

An independent clause, sometimes called a main clause, is a part of a sentence that can stand alone as a complete sentence.

For example, in the sentence, “The black dog ran along the river,” the independent clause is “The black dog ran.”

Independent clauses can be joined together by coordinating conjunctions or semicolons. For now, consider the following examples for how to correctly join two independent clauses:

• Example → “The black dog ran and the red fox chased it.”
• Example → “The black dog ran; the red fox chased it.”