To Sentence or not to sentence…that is the question

Often the only thing differentiating an independent clause (a sentence) from a dependent clause (not a sentence) is one word. Independent clauses are called such because they can stand by themselves, thus the term “independent.” They do not require something else for support. Dependent clauses are called such because they rely on something else. Take the average student, for example: parents are independent; they operate their households without anyone’s help. Children are dependent because they rely on their parents for food, a home, and instructions on how to live properly.

Almost every sentence error imaginable can be avoided simply by recognizing what IS and what IS NOT a sentence.

Independent clauses contain a subject, a verb, and they express a complete thought.

Dependent clauses contain a subject and a verb, but they do NOT express a complete thought.

Jim walked to the store.Independent clause

When Jim walked to the store.Dependent clause (fragment)

How do you fix a fragment? Complete the thought. That’s how! In the sentence below, we find out what happened when Jim walked to the store:

When Jim walked to the store, he met a girl.

The first sentence—“Jim walked to the store”—is independent. You can speak that line and that line alone to anyone in the world (they may not care, but that’s beside the point).

The second sentence is dependent because it does not indicate what happened when Jim walked to the store—there is no complete thought. The difference between the two is the subordinating conjunction, “when.”

Whenever one mistakes a dependent clause for an independent clause, a fragment happens.

Subordinating conjunctions are sometimes called dependent marker words. Some of them include the following (though this list is certainly not complete): after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while.

When these words begin a construction AND you notice a subject and a verb in the same construction, you have a dependent clause.

Be careful: some of these words also begin prepositional phrases, so remember the rule:

The construction is NOT a clause unless it contains a subjectand a verb.

If the construction lacks such, it is a phrase.

Sentences with compound subjects and/or compound verbs:

Single sentences are not limited to one subject and one verb (as if things weren’t complicated enough already). Subjects or verbs joined by FANBOYS words are common. Consider the following construction:

John, Dave, and Phillipsang to their girlfriends at the party and danced with them also.

John, Dave, and Phillip is a compound subject because THREE nouns are involved with the verbs.

Sang and danced is a compound verb because the nouns performing the action did two things—not just one.

The words in the middle, “to their girlfriends” and “at the party,” are prepositional phrases, so don’t let them distract you from the meat of the sentence.

Identifying compound subjects and compound verbs is a key element in avoiding silly errors, like random commas.

Which of the following constructions is correct?

1) John gave some money to his mother because she was broke and then prayed for her condition to improve.

2) John gave some money to his mother because she was broke,and then prayed for her condition to improve.

If you guessed number 1, you are correct! Do you recall the rules for coordinating conjunctions? One only puts a comma before a coordinating conjunction—a FANBOYS word—if it is being used to separate two completely separate sentences. “then prayed for her condition to improve” is NOTa complete sentence, so pay attention!

In other words, it is a single subject with a compound verb. John did two things: he GAVE and PRAYED. We do NOT separate compound verbs with a comma; if we did, we would have silly constructions like this: Mom yelled, and screamed at me.

If you add “he”—that is, “John gave some money to his mother because she was broke, and then he prayed for her condition to improve”—you have to use a comma with the fanboys word. Can you tell me why?

Practice--There are fourteen separate clauses in the paragraph below. On a separate sheet of paper, write each one on a separate line, and then identify each as Independent or Dependent.

When Billy comes home from school each day, his mother expects his chores to be done. He has to do them before he is allowed to watch television, play the XBOX, or spend time on Face book. Billy doesn't mind, however. He does the chores that his mother asks him to do because, like Santiago from Old Man and the Sea, he does his job without whining about it. While doing his chores, Billy refrains from complaining: he doesn't want to lose his privileges, after all. He will comply with his mother's wishes as long as he lives at home, and then he will enjoy making his own kids do chores when he is grown.

Q) In some of the sentences above, the dependent clause comes before the Independent clause, and in some of the sentences, it is the other way around. What do you notice about how commas are used based on the position of the dependent clause in the sentence?

Practice finding main clauses!

Main Clausea.k.a. Sentence, Independent Clause

To find a main clause, one must read a construction and identify the independent element, which is the part of the sentence that can stand by itself without any help. For example,

The young boy who just got home from school threw the red ball, which blasted through the kitchen window and scared his mother nearly to death.

The clauses “which blasted through…” and “who just got off the school bus” cannot stand by themselves (they are dependent). The bold portion of the construction is the only independent part of the construction.

Some constructions have more than one independent element. These are called compound sentences.

On a separate sheet of paper, write ONLY the independent clause(s) in each of the constructions below.

1)Charles, my neighbor, purchased a new boat last year; we are going to take it fishing tomorrow--as long as our wives do not have other plans for us.

2)The fish that dwell in LakeBarkley tend to strike green lures before noon and black lures after noon.

3)Last year, Joe's parents went on vacation to Hawaii.

4)Phil's dad found a buried treasure in the woods near the creek (or so he claims).

5)The Northern Lights have been known to cause paranoia in some people.

6)When Ray was a child, he saw the Northern Lights once; He was in the third grade at the time—I wish I knew more about his experience because he claims that it gave him psychic abilities.

7)I stumbled upon a sleeping bear once, but, because it would have been stupid, I did not disturb it.

8)I have owned several cool rides in my lifetime: a Trans-Am, a Jeep, and an extended-cab GMC pickup.

9)On December 7, 1941, the Japanese government launched a U.S. attack when they bombed the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; similarly, on September 11, 2001, the Taliban launched a U.S. attack when they bombed the WorldTradeCenter in New York City.

10)When I think about those events, I remember that Americans are not always safe.