Clauses 101

You may remember my previous post about clauses, back at the start of Red Pens and Playwriting. I revisited the topic for my writing guide Red Pens 101, and learned a lot of new things! Of course, I really want to share that learning with all of you. The following content is taken directly from Red Pens 101—if you want more like it, you can purchase the guide from my Ko-Fi shop.

I had a collection of joke books as a child, and there's one riddle that I remember very prominently, mostly because it was the one joke I didn't quite understand at the time: What's the difference between a comma and a cat? One is the pause at the end of a clause, and the other has claws at the end of its paws! Very cute, yes? I may not have known what a clause was, but by golly I knew there was a comma at the end of it! Fortunately, I have learned a lot more about clauses since then, because that's not quite right.

Clauses are made up of phrases, similar to the way phrases can nest within each other. The thing that makes a clause distinct from any other collection of phrases, however, is that a clause must include both a noun and a verb. Phrases might have one or the other, or neither, but not both.

Clauses can be defined as either independent or dependent. An independent clause is one that is capable of standing on its own as a sentence, but a dependent clause cannot; this means that every sentence must contain at least one clause which must be independent. There is no real limit to the number of clauses you can string together as far as grammar is concerned, so long as you join everything up correctly, though your readers might balk if you go much beyond three clauses. Here are a few examples to help you compare independent and dependent clauses:

Independent clauses:

There's a storm coming

I'm going to tie down the trampoline

Dependent clauses:

Although the radio says otherwise

That scare her

There a few different types of dependent clause. One subset is the adverbial clause, which is a clause that gives some context or condition to the connected clause, and most often begins with one of the following words:

• When
• While
• Where
• As
• Since
• If
• Although
• Whereas
• Unless
• Because

The handy mnemonic I use to remember this list, by the way, is "www.asia.wub".

These clauses work lot like adverb phrases, but on a larger scale: they modify the whole clause they are connected to, not just a phrase, and can change the meaning of the sentence as a whole quite significantly:

Jim expects a storm, although the radio says otherwise.

Unless I somehow find a winning lottery ticket, I won't be able to travel to Paris next year.

Dependent clauses can also stand in for a noun phrase or an adjective phrase in some specific circumstances, when the phrase is replaced with a defining statement that includes a verb and certain pronouns. If you spot a "who" or "that", you might just have an adjectival clause on your hands:

The cat who lives next door has gotten into the catnip again.

Candace loves reading stories that scare her.

The pronouns "what" or "why", on the other hand, may indicate a noun clause:

I know what you need.

Why the turkeys run in circles remains a mystery.

It may look like these dependent clauses are pretty similar to phrases, but remember that the big difference is that clauses have both a noun and verb.

How can we stick clauses together?

The best way to connect clauses depends on the type of clauses being connected. If one (or both) of the clauses being joined is dependent, you may be able to run them together without anything between them at all, otherwise you'll want to stick to your trusty comma, as the joke suggests:

If you can't beat ‘em, join ‘em!

There aren't any crackers left, since you ate them all.

When you have two independent clauses to join, however, there are a few options. You could, for instance, use a semicolon if you want to imply a connection between two clauses in a subtle way:

There's a storm coming; I'm going to tie down the trampoline.

I squirmed uncomfortably; Moira was glaring daggers in my direction.

Or, if you want to show a hierarchy of importance or a sense of cause and effect between your clauses, you may opt for a colon instead:

There was only one thing Frances could do in this situation: she pulled the fire alarm.

I made the best-looking pie of the day: it had a lattice design wreathed in vines, and a cluster or pastry roses in the corner.

Another punctuation option that's similar in function to the semicolon (while having a different vibe) is an em-dash:

I don't believe in dragons—if they existed, I'd have found them.

Darla had never liked John—he had a terrible habit of interrupting her.

But if you want to be really clear about how your independent clauses relate to each other, mere punctuation isn't going to cut it; this is where you need a conjunction!

Jamie went to the store and they bought some pasta for dinner.

They couldn't find any penne, but there was plenty of macaroni, so they got that instead.