Transcript of SOS Grammar – Lesson 7: Clauses in English

SOS Grammar – Lesson 7: Clauses in English

In today’s lesson, I’m going to introduce you to the different types of clauses in English.

This will allow you to understand how English speakers form their sentences when speaking or writing in English.

Before we get into today’s lesson, we should probably define what a clause is in English Grammar.

‘Clause’ here is not to be confused with ‘Claus’ as in Santa Claus or, say, the ‘claws’ of a tiger.

In English, and any other language for that matter, a clause is a unit of grammatical organisation below a sentence. It comprises a subject and a predicate.

You’ll know what a subject is: I, you, the dog, Australia.

A predicate is the name given to the part of a clause which contains the verb and states something about the object.

For example:

The dog likes water.

‘The dog’ is the subject.

‘Likes water’ is the predicate.

So, there are four types of clauses in English.

1. Main clause or independent clause.

2. Subordinate clause or dependent clause.

3. Adjective clause or relative clause, and.

4. The noun clause.

They all have one thing in common. Every clause contains at least one subject and one verb.

Let’s go through each of these clauses and how they work.

1. The Main Clause

The structure of the main clause is: Subject + Verb = Complete Thought.

Where ‘complete thought’ here is an entire sentence.

Let’s go through some examples.

1. Thirsty people drink.

‘People’ here is the subject.

‘Drink’ is the verb.

2. My wife loves chocolate.

‘My wife’ is the subject.

‘Loves’ is the verb.

3. I was incredibly tired.

‘I’ is the subject.

‘Was’ is the verb.

Every sentence in English must have at least one main clause.

If not, you don’t have a complete sentence, and thus, it’s an incomplete thought.

2. The Subordinate Clause.

The structure of the subordinate clause is: Subordinate Conjunction + Subject + Verb = Incomplete thought.

A subordinate conjunction includes words or phrases that link the subordinate clause with another clause.

For example: When, because, as.

And it’s an ‘incomplete thought’ because it can’t be set on its own, it must be linked to a main clause.

Let’s go through some examples.

1. When he arrived late.

‘When’ is the subordinate conjunction.

‘He’ is the subject.

‘Arrived’ is the verb.

2. Because she fell over and twisted her ankle.

‘Because’ is the subordinate conjunction.

‘She’ is the subject.

Fell over and twisted are the verbs.

3. As I had already read the book.

‘As’ is the subordinate conjunction.

‘I’ is the subject.

And ‘had read’ is the verb.

Don’t forget, the subordinate clause can’t be said or written on its own. It must be linked to a main clause in order to create a complete thought.

You can have either:

1. The main clause + the subordinate clause, or.

2. The subordinate clause + a comma + the main clause.

The thing to remember is that if you have a subordinate clause before a main clause, it requires the comma ‘,’ to separate those clauses.

For example:.

When he arrived late, the teacher got angry.

The teacher got angry when he arrived late.

Because she fell over and twisted her ankle, she couldn’t go to soccer practise.

She couldn’t go to soccer practise because she fell over and twisted her ankle.

As I had already read the book, I knew what was going to happen.

I knew what was going to happen as I had already read the book.

3. The Adjective Clause.

Adjective clauses start with relative pronouns, for example: who, whom, which, whose or that, or relative adverbs, for example: when, where or why.

The structure of adjective clauses is as follows:.

Relative pronoun or adverb + subject + verb = incomplete thought, or.

Relative pronoun as the subject + the verb = incomplete thought.

Let’s go through some examples.

1. Whom I sent the invitation to.

‘Whom’ is the relative pronoun.

‘I’ is the subject.

‘Sent’ is the verb.

2. Where she sat and watched the film.

‘Where’ is the relative adverb.

‘She’ is the subject.

‘Sat’ and ‘watched’ are the verbs.

3. That fell off the table and smashed on the floor.

‘That’ is the relative pronoun as the subject.

‘Fell off’ and ‘smashed’ are the verbs.

4. Who absolutely adores cats.

‘Who’ is the relative pronoun as the subject.

‘Adores’ Is the verb.

As with subordinate clauses, adjective clauses must be linked with a main clause in order to form a complete thought. They cannot be set alone as a sentence.

Let’s link the previous adjective clause phrases with main clauses.

1. It was my boss whom I sent the invitation to.

2. That was the seat where she sat and watched the film.

3. It was her vase that fell off the table and smashed on the floor.

4. My grandmother, who absolutely adores cats, works at the local animal shelter.

Punctuation and adjective clauses can be a little complicated. You have to work out if the adjective clause is essential or nonessential. If it’s non-essential, i.e. it’s added information, that’s kind of a side note to what you’re saying, you separate it with commas.

For example:

It’s my grandmother who absolutely adores cats – Essential adjective clause.

My grandmother, who absolutely adores cats, works at the local animal shelter – Non-essential adjective clause.

It was my boss whom I sent the invitation to – Essential adjective clause.

My boss whom I sent the invitation to just walk through the door – Non-essential adjective clause.

4. The noun clause.

Noun clauses include any clause that functions as a noun.

That may sound confusing, but effectively, it’s where you have a noun and a clause that describes that noun.

Noun clauses can be inserted within any of the other clauses.

For example:

Whoever told you that is a liar.

‘Whoever told you that’ is the noun clause.

He wants them to know who he is.

‘Who he is’ is the noun clause.

I’ll do whatever you want me to.

‘Whatever you want me to’ is the noun clause.

She completely agreed with everything you said.

‘Everything you said’ is the noun clause.

Effectively, you’ll know it’s a noun clause if you can replace that phrase with a pronoun or other noun. So things like: it, the dog, me, you.