Dependent Clauses

A dependent (subordinate) clause is part of a sentence; it contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought. They can make sense on their own, but, they are dependent on the rest of the sentence for context and meaning. They are usually joined to an independent clause to form a complex sentence.

Dependent clauses often begin with a a subordinating conjunction or relative pronoun (see below) that makes the clause unable to stand alone.

Subordinating Conjunctions
after	although	as	because
before	even if	even though	if
in order that	once	provided that	rather than
since	so that	than	that
though	unless	until	when
whenever	where	whereas	wherever
whether	while	why

Relative Pronouns
that	which	whichever
who	whoever	whom
whose	whosever	whomever

For example: The door opened because the man pushed it.

Dependent clauses can be nominal, adverbial or adjectival.

A nominal clause (noun clause) functions like a noun or noun phrase. It is a group of words containing a subject and a finite verb of its own and contains one of the following: that | if | whetherю

For example:I wondered whether the homework was necessary.

Noun clauses answer questions like "who(m)?" or "what?"

An adverbial clause (adverb clause) is a word or expression in the sentence that functions as an adverb; that is, it tells you something about how the action in the verb was done. An adverbial clause is separated from the other clauses by any of the following subordinating conjunctions: after | although | as | because | before | if | since | that | though | till | unless | until | when | where | while

For example: They will visit you before they go to the airport.

Adverbial clauses can also be placed before the main clause without changing the meaning.

For example: Before they go to the airport, they will visit you.

!Note - When an adverb clause introduces the sentence (as this one does), it is set off with a comma.

Adverb clauses answer questions like "when?", "where?", "why?"

An adjectival clause (adjective clause or relative clause) does the work of an adjective and describes a noun, it's usually introduced by a relative pronoun: who | whom | whose | that | which

For example: I went to the show that was very popular.

This kind of clause is used to provide extra information about the noun it follows. This can be to define something (a defining clause), or provide unnecessary, but interesting, added information (a non-defining clause).

For example: The car that is parked in front of the gates will be towed away. (Defining relative clause.)

Information contained in the defining relative clause is absolutely essential in order for us to be able to identify the car in question.

• My dog, who is grey and white, chased the postman. (Non-defining relative clause)

A non-defining relative clause is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. If you take away the non-defining clause the basic meaning of the sentence remains intact.

For example: My dog chased the postman.

Adjective clauses answer questions like "which?" or "what kind of?"

Summary

An adjective clause functions as an adjective (modifies a noun or pronoun); an adverb clause functions as an adverb (describes a verb, adjective or other adverb); a noun clause is used as a noun (subject of a verb, direct object, indirect object, predicate nominative or object of the preposition).

!Note - The difference between a clause and a phrase is that a phrase does not contain a finite verb.

The name "adverbial" suggests that adverbial clauses modify verbs; but they modify whole clauses, as shown by the examples [below]. Their other key property is that they are adjuncts, since they are typically optional constituents in sentences. They are traditionally classified according to their meaning, for example adverbial clauses of reason, time, concession, manner or condition, as illustrated below.

a. Reason
Because Marianne loved Willoughby, she refused to believe that he had deserted her.
b. Time
When Fanny returned, she found Tom Bertram very ill.
c. Concession
Although Mr D'Arcy disliked Mrs Bennet he married Elizabeth.
d. Manner
Henry changed his plans as the mood took him.
e. Condition
If Emma had left Hartfield, Mr Woodhouse would have been unhappy.

(Jim Miller, An Introduction to English Syntax. Edinburgh Univ. Press, 2002)

SRS-class: Syntactic analyses of complex sentences. Do the semantic and syntactic analysis of the following

Examples:

• "This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
  (newspaper editor to Senator Ransom Stoddart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 1962)
• "All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why."
  (attributed to James Thurber)
• Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it."
  (Helen Keller, "Optimism: An Essay," 1903)
• "The greatest thrill in the world is to end the game with a home run and watch everybody else walk off the field while you're running the bases on air. "
  (Al Rosen, third-baseman for the Cleveland Indians, 1947-1956)
• "Again at eight o’clock, when the dark lanes of the Forties were five deep with throbbing taxi cabs, bound for the theatre district, I felt a sinking in my heart. Forms leaned together in the taxis as they waited, and voices sang, and there was laughter from unheard jokes, and lighted cigarettes outlined unintelligible gestures inside."
  (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925)
• "The swift December dusk had come tumbling clownishly after its dull day, and, as he stared through the dull square of the window of the schoolroom, he felt his belly crave for its food."
  (James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1916)
• " Though we thumped, wept, and chanted "We want Ted" for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back."
  (John Updike, "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu," 1960)
• "I drank some boiling water because I wanted to whistle. "
  (Mitch Hedberg)
• "I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it. "
  (Mae West)
• " When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
  (Sinclair Lewis, 1935)
• " When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best. "
  (Herbie Hancock)
• "And when the broken hearted people
  Living in the world agree,
  There will be an answer, let it be.
  For though they may be parted there is
  Still a chance that they will see
  There will be an answer, let it be."
  (John Lennon and Paul McCartney, "Let It Be")
• " If I ever opened a trampoline store, I don't think I'd call it Trampo-Land, because you might think it was a store for tramps, which is not the impression we are trying to convey with our store."
  (Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts, 1992)
• "According to legend, when Lady Godiva pleaded with her husband, the Earl of Mercia, to cancel a burdensome tax he had levied against his subjects, he agreed to do so only if she rode naked through the city. "
  (Jim Hargan, "The City of Lady Godiva." British Heritage, January 2001)
• "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. "
  (Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture, 2008)

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