Dependent Clauses and Independent Clauses

1. The Difference in Independence

1) Independent Clauses: These clauses can stand alone as complete sentences, containing a subject and a predicate to express a full thought. For example, "I go to school by bike every day."

2) Dependent Clauses: On the other hand, dependent clauses cannot exist independently and must rely on a main clause to convey a complete meaning. For instance, "before it rains."

2. Types of Dependent Clauses

Dependent clauses can be further divided into three types: noun clauses, relative clauses (also known as adjective clauses), and adverbial clauses. Each serves a specific function in a sentence structure.

3. Connectors for Joining Clauses

When joining dependent clauses to independent clauses, there are two types of connectors that are commonly used:

a. Subordinating Conjunctions: These include words like after, although, as, because, before, even if, etc.

4. Examples of Dependent Clauses

1) "Whatever you put forward, I will agree with it." (adverbial clause)

2) "I will agree with whatever you propose." (noun clause)

Now that we have discussed the basics of dependent and independent clauses, it is clear that understanding the distinctions between them is essential for constructing coherent and meaningful sentences.