I was delighted when I saw many people are intrigued to learn the English language as I do. I would like to continue the topic of clauses, which I have started in my previous post. To get into more detail, I am starting with the functions of the dependent clause.
As we already know that dependent clause needs to have an independent clause to give a complete idea, I am moving further to explain how dependent clause works.
First of all, what is a clause? A clause is a group of words that have at least one subject and one verb. The dependent clause, which is also known as the subordinate clause, contains a subject and a verb, with an incomplete idea. In other words, a dependent clause cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. It needs an independent clause to make a sensible sentence.
We can differentiate a dependent clause with an independent clause by looking at the beginning of the sentence, where a conjunction or a pronoun appears in the dependent clause.
For example: Although he is intelligent, he does not suit for this job.
This example has two clauses, “although he is rich”, which is a dependent clause and “he does not suit for this job.” is an independent clause. Here although is showing contrast and it a conjunctive adverb. It is more important to identify the number of clauses in a sentence to get a better understanding.
To understand how a phrase is different from clause, you need to look for an object and a tense verb.
For example: “Despite being rich” here there is no tense verb and it is an introductory phrase.
“Although he is rich” here this has a tense verb which is “is”. Therefore, it is a clause.
Furthermore, it is more important to identify the dependent clauses in a sentence.
Try to read an article or any newspaper and identify how many tense verbs are included in the article. If you are able to find the tense verbs then it will be very easy for you to understand how many clauses are there in the sentence. Identifying clauses in a sentence improves your reading skills.
I agree that just identifying a clause cannot make you understand the whole paragraph. However, a detailed further study can master your reading skills and helps you to improve your writing.