17.

6 independent dependent clause

Independent and dependent clauses.

[00:00:02] This is important for a few reasons. For example, knowing when to use that, which,
who and whose. And to better understand how sentences are structured. In some previous
lectures in this section, I was telling you that if something came at the beginning or in the
middle, we either did or didn't use commas. That will be explained in these lectures about
clauses.

[00:00:23] Let's start simple though, and I'll tell you the difference between an independent
clause and a dependent clause.

[00:00:29] What is a clause?

[00:00:30] A clause is a combination of words containing a subject and a verb like here.

[00:00:35] She laughed.

[00:00:36] This is one clause. We have the subject and verb.

[00:00:39] She laughed, but he didn't think it was funny.

[00:00:42] Now here we have two clauses separated by a comma.

[00:00:46] Independent and dependent clauses.

[00:00:48] Also known as main and subordinate clauses.

[00:00:51] There are two clauses in the sentence.

[00:00:53] 'He saw a woman', and, 'who was angry.'

[00:00:57] The first clause, he saw a woman, has a complete meaning and can exist as a
complete sentence by itself. This is what is considered an independent clause, because it can
exist independently.

[00:01:09] But what about the second clause that cannot exist independently? In our example,
that was 'who was angry.' This clause depends on the other clause for its complete meaning.
Because it depends on the other clause, we call it a dependent clause. Here are some more
examples. After I read the sentence pause the video and guess which part of the sentence is
independent and which is dependent.

[00:01:33] He sent a lot of letters, but no one responded.

[00:01:38] He sent a lot of letters is the independent clause. But no one responded is the
dependent clause.
[00:01:45] I had a teacher who was a very smart.

[00:01:48] I had a teacher is the independent clause, who was very smart is the dependent
clause.

[00:01:54] Because he was late, the meeting did not start on time.

[00:01:59] The meeting did not start on time is the independent clause, because he was late is
the dependent clause.

[00:02:06] So a dependent clause can also come first in a sentence.

[00:02:09] When I get home from work, I like to watch some TV.

[00:02:12] Again the dependent clause comes first here. The independent clause is I like to
watch some TV.