If the word "but" is missing from this sentence, the sentence would be called a comma splice: two independent clauses would be incorrectly connected, smooshed together, with only a comma between them. We have two independent clauses "Bob didn't mean to do it" and "he did it anyway" connected by a comma and a coordinating conjunction ("but").
#Sentence fragment definition wikipedia how to
Needless to say, it is important to learn how to combine independent clauses into larger units of thought. The ability to recognize a clause and to know when a clause is capable of acting as an independent unit is essential to correct writing and is especially helpful in avoiding sentence fragments and run-on sentences. Independent Clauses could stand by themselves as discrete sentences, except that when they do stand by themselves, separated from other clauses, they're normally referred to simply as sentences, not clauses.
#Sentence fragment definition wikipedia series
Some relative clauses will refer to more than a single word in the preceding text they can modify an entire clause or even a series of clauses. (In this sentence, the clause in this color is a restrictive clause and will not be set off by a comma the underlined relative clause is nonrestrictive and is set off by commas.)
Review the section on Comma Usage for additional help in determining whether relative clauses are restrictive or nonrestrictive (parenthetical or not) and whether commas should be used to set them off from the rest of the sentence. Relative clauses can be either restrictive or nonrestrictive.
Relative clauses are dependent clauses introduced by a Relative Pronoun ( that, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, and of which). Review the Notorious Confusables section on the difference between That and Which for additional clarification on the distinction between restrictive and nonrestrictive. Professor Villa, who used to be a secretary for the President, can type 132 words a minute.Nonrestrictive clauses are often set apart from the rest of the sentence by a comma or a pair of commas (if it's in the middle of a sentence). British grammarians will make this same distinction by referring to clauses with the terms defining and non-defining.) A nonrestrictive clause is not essential to the meaning of the sentence it can be removed from the sentence without changing its basic meaning. (The words essential and nonessential are sometimes used and mean the same thing as restrictive and nonrestrictive, respectively. The subordinate clause is created by a subordinating conjunction or dependent word.Īn independent clause, "She is older than her brother" (which could be its own sentence), can be turned into a dependent or subordinate clause when the same group of words begins with a dependent word (or a subordinating conjunction in this case): " Because she is older than her brother, she tells him what to do."Ĭlauses are also classified as restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses. Another term for dependent clause is subordinate clause: this means that the clause is subordinate to another element (the independent clause) and depends on that other element for its meaning.
This simply means that some clauses can stand by themselves, as separate sentences, and some can't. This digital handout categorizes clauses into independent and dependent clauses. Learning the various terms used to define and classify clauses can be a vocabulary lesson in itself. If your computer is equipped with PowerPoint, click on the PowerPoint icon to the right for a brief PowerPoint presentation on Clauses.Ī clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb A clause can be usefully distinguished from a phrase, which is a group of related words that does not contain a subject-verb relationship, such as "in the morning" or "running down the street" or "having grown used to this harassment." A review of the different kinds of phrases might be helpful.
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