Clauses

Mr. Nance discusses finding how a word's job is more important than its part of speech. The first step is mastering clause structure!

This lesson covers independent clauses (including how to combine them using semicolons and coordinating conjunctions), noun clauses, adjective clauses (including how to punctuate restrictive vs. nonrestrictive clauses), and subordinate clauses (including correct comma usage depending on where the clause is in relation to the independent clause). There is also a set of notes for students to fill in while they watch the lecture, a homework assignment, and a quiz.

A dependent clause (sometimes called a subordinate clause) is a clause that augments an independent clause with additional information, but which cannot stand alone as a sentence.

This video lesson with define an independent clause (or main clause). An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence. It doesn't need anything else to make sense, except it must have a subject and a predicate.