Winnie explains what clauses are and how to use them in writing. A clause needs a subject and verb, unlike a phrase. Independent clauses stand alone; dependent clauses need another clause to complete the sentence, and they require a comma when they come first.
Did you know that sentences are made up of clauses? Hi everyone, this is Winnie or Miss Tang. Today we are learning to analyze the types and uses of clauses. This is because understanding different parts of a sentence and how they are put together will help us with our writing. Our success criteria today includes: Good is I can recognize phrases or clauses in a text. Great is can you recognize phrases and clauses in a text? Amazing is I can recognise dependent and independent clauses. I can write a dependent and independent clause. And fabulous is can you recognise sentences with a dependent and independent clause? And can you write sentences with a dependent and independent clause? A clause is a group of words. It must include a subject and a verb that relate to each other. The reason why we use clauses in our writing is to provide more information about what the subject is doing. We're trying to communicate an action or a state of being. It can be, but not always, an independent sentence— sentence that can stand on its own, whereas phrases, they can't function as its own sentence. This is an example from a narrative that I have written called called Amber and the Browbeating Bully, and this is actually a prequel to the book that my friend and I are writing. Here are some examples of phrases. A noun phrase, for example, cheerleading coach, year 5 teacher. They tell us about the subject. A verb phrase is telling us what is happening, so they were or was standing. An adjective phrase could be much taller than Viviana because we are trying to describe and compare between the two. We have our adverb phrase, for example, "on the bed," "table," "windowsill." So we're trying to describe how, when, or where it is happening. There are two types of clauses. The first one are our independent clauses, which can stand as its own sentence, and sometimes this is also called a simple sentence. A dependent clause is also known as a subordinate clause. A dependent clause cannot stand as its own sentence, and it needs to be combined with an independent clause to make a complete sentence. So if simple sentences are also known as independent clauses, what about compound and complex sentences? Compound and complex sentences are made up of a combination of dependent and independent clauses. Here is an example of an independent clause: Viviana was standing in front of her. So we have the subject and we have the verb, and it is also a simple sentence. Here is an example of a dependent clause: When Amber stood back up from her stretch— So as you can see, it is not a complete sentence, and we will need to add in another, an independent clause just to make it a complete sentence. When we are looking at a dependent or a subordinate clause from an independent or a main clause, we are looking at a clause that cannot stand alone, so this is the dependent clause. It's not a complete sentence yet until we add in the main or the independent clause, and the role of the dependent clause in the sentence is to provide some additional information to the main event or the main clause, and our main clause is our independent clause, which is a complete sentence. Whenever we use a dependent clause in a complex sentence, we will also need to include a comma as well. Here is an 'When Amber stood back up from her stretch.' So this is the first part of the sentence is a dependent or subordinate clause, which cannot stand on its own. So because we have added that at the beginning of the sentence, we need a comma. And then to make it a complete sentence, we add on an independent clause or a simple sentence. So we have, 'When Amber stood back up from her stretch, Viviana was standing in front of her.' So now we have a complete sentence with a dependent clause and an independent clause combined together. Fun fact: a clause has many hats. A clause can take on a role of an adverb, an adjective, or even nouns. That's why you can have different types of clauses like noun clauses, adverbial clauses, adjective clauses, or adjectival clauses in a sentence. Okay, now it's your turn. Can you find dependent and independent clauses in the book that you are reading? Can you write your own sentences with dependent and independent clauses? Here is my grammar and punctuation playlist right here. See you in my next video. Bye!
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