Hello lovely students and welcome back to English with Lucy. Today we've got a grammar lesson. We are going back to basics. We're going to discuss a topic that many learners of English miss and then they go through their lives without understanding this one really important thing, clauses. In fact, many native speakers go through their lives without understanding clauses.
Not today, it ends here. In this video, I'm going to explain to you what are clauses, why they're important, and how understanding the function of clauses will help you to improve your English. Before we get started, as always, there is a free PDF that goes with today's lesson.
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Right, let's get started with the lesson. What is a clause? You may have heard this term clause thrown around quite a bit, but you might not know what it actually means.
A clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb and forms a sentence or part of a sentence. A clause must also have meaning on its own. It does not need any additional modifiers or information to make sense. A simple sentence can be made of just one clause, but most sentences have more than one. A subject and a verb is a clause.
For example, the dog runs. Subject, verb. Clause, sentence on its own. We have two basic types of clauses in English.
They have various functions, so understanding their roles is extremely important in forming proper sentences. Let's start with the independent clause. This is also called the main clause. An independent clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb and can form a sentence. It does not require the support of other clauses as it can stand on its own.
Examples, Erica reads, they play, we sit. This is a bit different from a dependent clause, also known as a subordinate clause, which is a group of words that is not a sentence but adds information to the main part of a sentence. A dependent clause is typically introduced with a conjunction.
Words like before, because, so, or if. It's formation, conjunction, subject, verb. Examples, before she goes to sleep, and we ate, but it fell. These examples cannot stand on their own as independent sentences, thus they are dependent clauses.
We call them dependent because, surprise, they depend on the use of an independent clause. Let's take one of our independent clauses and combine it with a dependent clause. Erica reads before she goes to sleep.
Erica reads is independent. Before she goes to sleep is dependent. Now that we know the two basic types of clauses, let's look at our the pendant clauses a bit deeper.
First type, noun clause. A noun clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb, but the entire clause acts as a single noun. This is often a cause for confusion for many learners of English.
This is your moment to understand this. Many noun clauses start with that, how, who, What where when or why for example she knew how it broke? How it broke is a noun clause or we saw where they went Where they went again is a noun clause Here's an important tip you will know it's a noun clause if you can easily replace the clause With a pronoun an example she knew how it broke take away how it broke Replace it with a pronoun, him, she knew him. It works, so it was a noun clause. Now let's discuss adverb clauses.
An adverb clause is a dependent clause that acts as shock and adverb in a sentence. They help to qualify the meanings of verbs, adjectives, clauses, and other adverbs. Adverb clauses help to answer when, where, why, how, and by how much.
Adverb clauses often start with one of the subordinating conjunctions, after, as, though, since, because, et cetera. These clauses are quite flexible and can be used at the beginning, end, or middle of a sentence to add more detail. Here's an example.
If you pay for the snacks, or because she was early. Let's look at them in a sentence. If you pay for the snacks, I'll get the pizza.
We can swap them round. I'll get the pizza if you pay for the snacks. Or Paula had to help set up because she was early. Or because she was early, Paula had to help set up. Now let's talk about adjective clauses.
An adjective clause is a group of words that acts as an, can you guess, adjective? in a sentence. They are dependent clauses that give more information about a noun or a pronoun.
They typically come directly after the noun they modify. We often use words like that, which, whom, and whose with adjective clauses. Some examples, whose birthday is tomorrow, which we are going to visit in spring. Let's look at these clauses in sentences.
Constantine, whose birthday is tomorrow, is going to be late. Or, mum's hometown, which we're going to visit in spring, is very far away. Notice how the adjective clause gives more information about the noun that comes directly before it. We now know that Constantine has a birthday tomorrow. We also know that the speaker will be visiting their mum's hometown in spring.
If you take away these clauses, the sentences still make sense. Constantine is going to be late. Mum's hometown is very far away.
We now have a different type of clause and it is our final one too. It's a coordinate clause. These are two or more independent clauses in a sentence often joined by coordinate conjunctions, and, or, but, and so on, that make separate statements that each have equal importance. We form compound sentences by linking together coordinate clauses. We will discuss sentence structure in another video.
When that video is ready, I will put it in the description box. An example, she's travelling by train, but she prefers to travel by car. Both clauses in this compound sentence function as independent clauses that can stand alone as individual sentences. They are linked together by the coordinate conjunction, but.
Therefore, these two clauses are coordinate clauses. That's it from me today. Now it's time for you to complete your exercises.
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You can use them to expand your vocabulary. I will see you soon for another lesson. Bye.