Clauses, as you have seen until now, can be broadly broken up into Independent Clauses and Dependent Clauses.
Independent Clauses
Independent clauses are the ones that can stand on their own and make their meaning clear.
For example:
The Math exam is tomorrow. It is very difficult. (These are independent clauses.) |
Independent clauses are joined with the help of coordinating conjunctions.
For example:
The Math exam is tomorrow and it is very difficult. (The two independent clauses are joined with the help of the coordinating conjunction ‘and’.) |
In a sentence containing two or more independent clauses (i.e., compound sentence), the clauses retain their importance and serve as the main clauses of the compound sentence.
In the previous example, two ideas are expressed—Math exam’s date and its difficulty. Both these ideas are given equal importance because of the use of the coordinating conjunction.
Both the clauses that present these ideas are the main clauses of the sentence.
[Note: The coordinating conjunction ‘and’ is not a part of either of the two independent clauses. It is only used for joining the two.] |
Dependent Clauses
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