5 Types of Clauses with Examples in English Grammar

The concept of clause plays a vital role in the phase of English grammar. It’s one of the most prominent building block of a sentence. They help in understanding the grammar in a more better way. Clauses not only makes it easy to write but also improvises the quality of the sentence. Although they appear to be the most basic part or a simple branch, the usage of them in the way according to the sentence makes it more complex.

“A clause is complete meaningful sentence, comprising of both subject and predicate”.

So CLAUSE = SUBJECT + PREDICATE (VERB). [S + P]

Here, the subject is regarding the activity of the sentence and the predicate is the one that gets that subject to completion.

EXAMPLES

  • You eat
  • He dances
  • John paints
  • Gilbert plays well
  • Sharon cooks deliciously.
  • I waited for the bus, but it didn’t come.

A point to be remembered here is that, a sentence must contain both subject and verb at least once. Absence of either of the parameters, would not form a clause. Now let’s see about the classification of clauses in various ways.

1. Independent Clauses

Clauses that are not influenced by any other sentences. That is they can present independently satisfying the basic clause condition. Also called as main clause.

EXAMPLE

  • I play in the dockyard
  • In the dockyard, I play

From the above examples, irrespective of the remaining part of the sentence the clause “I Play” is called an independent clause because it can also form a meaningful complete sentence without the other part (dockyard). Some more are

  • She is a good girl
  • I like mobiles
  • I watched the whole movie
  • Alarm beeps whenever it falls down.

2. Dependent Clauses

Dependent clauses can’t be functional alone for the sentence completion meaningfully. They need to be used along with the independent clauses for support. Presence of only dependent clause doesn’t fill or provide the complete meaning. Also called as subordinate clause.

EXAMPLE

  • When I was returning from LA, I met with an accident.
  • I guessed that she couldn’t pass
  • He purchased a ring which was damn pretty
  • Because he loves games, he brought a set of five volumes.

3 Types of Dependent Clauses / Subordinate Clauses

Now under dependent clauses, there are three main types of clauses that are the most important and crucial part of clauses, there are also other types but precisely they’re –

  • Adjective Clauses
  • Noun Clause
  • Adverbial Clauses

3. Adjective Clauses

Adjective clause is actually a general adjective in a sentence with both subject and predicate. So being a part of dependent clause it cannot sustain on it’s own as mentioned.

EXAMPLE

  • The man who won the match years ago committed suicide.
  • Elena owns the book that has a blue colored envelope.

4. Noun Clauses

As the name suggests, sentence comprising of a noun which can be either the subject or predicate. Like “which”, “that” etc.

EXAMPLE

  • What you’ve said is completely right.
  • I love the way in which Jeremy paints.

5. Adverbial Clauses

This type of clause is to be considered with utmost attention. Don’t confuse between an adverb and an adjective. Something that describes a noun or a pronoun is an adjective. Whereas, something that describes the adjective is called an adverb. So the adverbial clause is a typical adverb present in a sentence satisfying the clause condition accordingly.

EXAMPLE

  • Stay in the waiting hall till I return.
  • I may come late as I have the project submission.

So to sum up the whole content, one has to know, understand and how to implement the usage of clauses in the sentences. Because, without these clauses it’s impossible to form an English meaningfully. In order to improvise and mould those types of clauses, one has to practice well.

Keep exploring EnglishBix to learn how clauses are used in sentence formation.

Quick Links

  1. Relative Clause Examples in English Grammar
  2. Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses 

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