Meeting 4

SENTENCES WITH MULTIPLE CLAUSES__________

Many sentences in English have more than one clause. A clause is a group of words
containing a subject and a verb.
Whenever you find a sentence on the test with more than one clause, you need to make
sure that every subject has a verb and every verb has a subject. Next you need to check that the
various clauses in the sentences are correctly joined. There are various ways to join clauses in
English. Certain patterns appear frequently in English and on the test. You should be very
familiar with these patterns.
You can use a conjunction to link words, phrases, and clauses as in the following
example:
I ate pizza and the pasta.
Call the dancers when you are ready.

Coordinating conjunction
Coordinating conjunctions coordinate or join two or more sentences, main clauses,
words, or other parts of speech which are of the same syntactic importance. Also known as
coordinators, coordinating conjunctions are used to give equal emphasis to a pair of main
clauses. Coordinating conjunctions always connect phrases, words, and clauses.
For example:
This batch of mushroom stew is savory and delicious.
You can eat your cake with a spoon or fork.
Bill refuses to eat peas, nor will he touch carrots.
I hate to waste a drop of gas, for it is very expensive these days.

Subordinating Conjunction
A subordinating conjunction is a word that connects an independent clause to a
dependent clause. An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence. In other words, it does
not need any additional information to operate as a sentence. The sentence "The student failed
the test" is an example of an independent clause. A dependent clause adds extra information to
the main clause. These clauses cannot stand by themselves and their meaning is dependent on
the independent clause. They are not complete sentences. For example, "because she didn't
study" is not a complete sentence. However, combine the two clauses, and we have "The
student failed the test because she didn't study." A complete idea has been expressed and
enough information has been presented to fully explain the thought. What joined the two
clauses? The word “because.” And there we have our first subordinating conjunction.
Other examples:
Now that they are tired, they take a rest in side way.
Unless you study, I will play the game online.
I turned off the light in order that my friend can sleep well.
Henry walks as if he were a CEO.
She could be happy if only you love her.

1
Correlative Conjunctions
Correlative conjunctions are sort of like tag-team conjunctions. They come in pairs, and
you have to use both of them in different places in a sentence to make them work. They get
their name from the fact that they work together (co-) and relate one sentence element to
another. Correlative conjunctions include pairs such as “both/and,” “either/or,” “neither/nor,”
“not/but” and “not only/but also.”
For example:
either/or - I want either the cheesecake or the chocolate cake.
both/and - We’ll have both the cheesecake and the chocolate cake.
whether/or - I didn’t know whether you’d want the cheesecake or the chocolate cake, so I got
both.
neither/nor - Oh, you want neither the cheesecake nor the chocolate cake? No problem.
not only/but also - I’ll eat them both - not only the cheesecake but also the chocolate cake.
not/but - I see you’re in the mood not for desserts but appetizers. I’ll help you with those, too.

SKILL 6: USE CO-ORDINATE CONNECTORS CORRECTLY

CO-ORDINATE CONNECTORS
for and nor but also or so yet either or neither nor

S V co-ordinate connector S V
She laughed, but she wanted to cry

EXERCISE 6: Each of the following sentences contains more than one clause. Underline the
subjects once and the verbs twice. Circle the connectors. Then, indicate if the sentences are
Correct ( C ) or Incorrect ( I ). Give your reason !
C 1. The soft ware should be used on an IBM Computer, and this computer is an IBM.
I 2. The rain clouds can be seen in the distance, but no has fallen.
3. They are trying to sell their house, it has been on the market for two months.
4. So the quality of the print was not good, I changed the type writer ribbon.
5. The lifeguard will warn you about the riptides, or she may require you to get out of
the water.
6. You should have finished the work yesterday, yet is not close to being finished today.
7. The phone rang again and again, so the receptionist was not able to get much work
done.
8. The missing wallet was found, but the cash and credit cards had been removed
9. Or you can drive your car for another 2.000 miles, you can get it fixed.
10. The chemist was awarded the Nobel Prize, he flew to Europe to accept it.

Your task
Answer the questions number 6 until 10 on exercise 6 !