Lawrence Cleary, Co-director Regional Writing
Centre, UL
www.ul.ie/rwc
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A clause, at minimum, has a subject, a tensed
verb and makes sense:
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‘Jesus wept.’ (S+Vi)
‘The sky is blue.’ (S+Vl+C)
‘I fixed my bike.’ (S + Vt + Od)
‘I gave Mary the keys.’ (S +Vt + Oi + Od)
There are two kinds of clauses:
◦ Clauses that have a subject and a verb and make sense are
independent clauses. They don’t need additional
information in order to make sense.
◦ Dependent clauses cannot stand alone: ‘
 ‘After I get the tickets.’ (S+Vt + Od, but needs an independent
clause to help it make sense):
 ‘I’ll call you after I get the tickets.’ (‘I’ll call you’ makes sense all
by itself. ‘after I get the tickets’ needs additional information)
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Dependent clauses can function as either
nouns, adjectives or adverbs:
◦ Noun clause:
 ‘That I don’t believe you should concern you.’
 I can’t believe that it’s already Christmas!
◦ Adjective clause:
 ‘That woman who is waving is my mother.’
 ‘That woman, who is waving, is my mother.’
◦ Adverb clause:
 ‘After the match was won, the fans celebrated in the
streets.’
 The fans celebrated in the streets after the match was
won.’
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Four kinds of sentences:
◦ Simple (a single independent clause)
◦ Compound (two independent clauses joined by a
coordinator)
◦ Complex (one dependent clause connected to an
independent clause by a subordinator)
◦ Compound-Complex (a sentence containing at least
two independent clauses and one or more
dependent clauses)
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A single independent clause
An independent clause, at minimum, has a
subject, a tensed verb and makes sense:
◦ ‘Jesus wept.’ (S+Vi)
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However, an independent clause may have
◦ two subjects: ‘Jack and Jill went up the hill.’ (S+S+Vi)
◦ two verbs: ‘Mary both swims and plays football.’
(S+Vi+Vt)
◦ an adverbial: ‘Derek reads slowly.’ (S+Vi+Adv) or ‘Before
the wedding, the bride got sloshed!’ (Adv Ph+ S+Vl + C)
◦ Etc.
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Two independent clauses joined by a coordinator.
Coordinators join two things of equal value:
◦ For, and, nor, but, or, yet, so and ;.
‘Compound sentences contain two independent
clauses, and they are connected by a coordinator.’
‘Because they are of equal value and because one
independent clause introduces a second independent
clause, the first clause is set off by a comma and is
followed by a coordinator.’
Any time any word, phrase or clause precedes the
main clause, that word, phrase or clause is set off by
a comma:
◦ ‘Unsurprisingly, nobody valued vomit as sidewalk art.’
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An independent clause joined to a dependent
clause by a subordinator.
◦ ‘I decided not to go (as the weather took a turn for
the worse).’
◦ ‘(Because the exam was so important to his grade),
Jerry studied all night.’
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Subordinating conjunctions link independent
clauses to noun, adjective or adverb clauses;
therefore, subordinators are numerous.
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At least two independent clauses linked to one or
more subordinate clauses:
◦ (I wanted to travel) (after I graduated); (however, I had to
go to work immediately).
◦ ‘Sir Thomas, meanwhile, went on with his own hopes,
and his own observations, still feeling a right, by all his
knowledge of human nature, to expect to see the effect
of the loss of power and consequence, on his niece’s
spirits, and the past attentions of the lover producing a
craving for their return; and he was soon afterwards able
to account for his not yet completely and indubitably
seeing all of this, by the prospect of another visitor,
whose approach he could allow to be quite enough to
support the spirits he was watching’ (Mansfield Park,
249).
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That clauses:
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If/whether clauses:
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Question (word) clauses:
◦ ‘Do you believe (something) (that we can‘t get into
the concert)?’
◦ ‘I can’t remember (something) (if I locked the
door).’
◦ Whether, whether…or not, if, if…or not
◦ We should ask when the train leaves.
◦ Who, whoever, whom, which, what, where, when,
why, how, how much, how many, how long, how
often, etc.
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To refer to people: who, whom, whose
◦ ‘People (who live in glass houses) shouldn’t throw
stones.’
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To refer to animals and things: which, that
◦ ‘My new computer, (which I just bought), has just
crashed!’
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To refer to a time or place: when, where
◦ The library is a place (where they store books).
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Time (when?) after, as, just as, as long as, before, since,
until, when, whenever, while
Place (where?) where, wherever, anywhere everywhere
Manner (how?) as, just as, as if, as though
Distance (how far or near or close?) as + adv + as
Frequency (how often?) as often as
Reason (why?) as, because, since
Purpose (for what purpose?) so that, in order that
Result (with what result?) so + adj + that, so + adv + that,
such a(n) + noun + that, so much/many/little/few + noun
+ that
Condition (under what condition?) if, unless
Concession (partial contrast) although, even though,
though
Contrast (direct opposition) while, whereas
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Both…and: Both my sister and my brother
have chicken pox.
Not only…but also: Not only do they have
jobs but also have inheritances.
Either…or: Bring either a raincoat or an
umbrella as the rain is lashing.
Neither…nor: My grandfather could neither
read nor write.
Whether…or: I am going early whether you
like it or not.
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People whose professional activity lies in
the field of politics are not, on the whole,
conspicuous for their respect for factual
accuracy; in other words, Politicians often
lie.
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To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
add a similar idea: also, besides, furthermore, in addition, moreover
add an unexpected or surprising continuation: however, nevertheless, nonetheless, still
add a complete contrast: in contrast, on the other hand
add a result: as a result, consequently, therefore, thus
list ideas in order of time: meanwhile, afterward, then, subsequently
give an example: for example, for instance
show similarity: similarly, likewise
recommend the value of one assertion over another: instead, on the contrary, rather
offer an alternative possibility: alternatively, on the other hand
add an explanation: in other words, that is
emphasise a point: indeed, in fact
• Anything that precedes the main clause is usually set off
by a comma: ‘Because the exam was so important to his
grade, Jerry studied all night.’
• When joining two independent clauses with a coordinator,
place a comma after the first clause: ‘Tommy went to the
shop, but he forgot to bring his wallet.’
• Commas are used to signify parenthetical information:
‘The woman, waving her hand, is my mother.’ Similarly:
‘My brother, Johnny, is an electrician.’
• Commas separate items in a series: ‘Give me a quarterpounder with pickles, onions and cheese (pickles, onions,
and cheese in American English).
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Like the coordinator, the semi-colon
separates things of equal value:
◦ My father was a teacher; his father was a teacher.
◦ Table 5 ordered a chicken Caesar with chicken, no
onions and blue-cheese dressing; a bottle of
sparkling water, an aperitif and a glass of
Burgundy; and a lemon-ice, an expresso and a pony
of Anisette for dessert.
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The colon should introduce examples or elaborations:
◦ "Grammar Girl has two favorite hobbies: watching clouds
and seeing how long she can stand on one foot." - See more at:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/colons#sthash.hdh4BMiu.dpuf
◦ All three of their children are involved in the arts: Richard is
a sculptor, Diane is a pianist, and Julie is a theatre director.
◦ In a play:
 “FRANCISCO: You come most carefully upon your hour.
 BERNARDO: 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.”
◦ Telling time: 10:25am
◦ Ratios: 3:1
◦ Main point is presented in a sentence: the ideas placed
after the colon follow logically from or elaborate on the
main point.
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Ellipses
Exclamations
Questions
Dashes
Parentheses
Forward/backward slashes
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation_
rules.asp
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http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/sp
elling-rules-and-tips
https://www.logicofenglish.com/resources/s
pelling-rules
Spell-check
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http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/us
ing-capital-letters
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/
capital.asp