Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A clause is a group of
related words containing
a subject and a verb.
It is different from a phrase in that a phrase does
not include a subject and a verb relationship.
There are many different kinds of clauses. It would be
helpful to review some of the grammar vocabulary we
use to talk about clauses.
Words and phrases in this color are hyperlinks to the Guide to Grammar & Writing.
1. Independent clauses:
Glaciers often leave behind holes in the ground.
These holes are called kettles, and they look just like
scooped-out pots.
Glaciers also leave behind enormous deposits of glacial
garbage; these deposits are called morains.
Kettle holes result when a large block of ice is left behind
the glacier and then melts away, leaving a large depression.
The Internet, which started out as a means for military and academic
types to share documents, has become a household necessity.
Tim Berners-Lee, who developed the World Wide Web, could never
have foreseen the popularity of his invention.
The graphical user interface (GUI) that we all take for granted
nowadays is actually a late development in the World Wide Web.
Notice, now, how the subject is often separated from its verb by
information represented by the dependent clause.
Run-on Sentences