Logo for Really-Learn-English.com" width="" height="" /> 
Independent and dependent clauses are two types of clauses in the English language.
Click Here for Step-by-Step Rules, Stories and Exercises to Practice All English Tenses
A clause is a group of related words that contains a subje ct and a verb .
Clauses are the basic building blocks of sentences in the English language.
A subject is the person or thing that is doing something or being something.
The subject performs the verb.
A verb is the action word in a sentence.
The subject of the sentence is the dog because the dog is doing the action. The verb is jumped because it is the action.
The subject of this sentence is He . The verb is smiled .
A verb can also describe a state, such as: be , have , like , see , etc.
An independent clause is a group of related words that contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought .
Independent Clause =Independent clauses are complete sentences. They begin with a capital letter and end with punctuation, such as a period.
Dependent clauses contain a subject and a verb, but do not express a complete thought.
Dependent Clause =A dependent clause is not a complete sentence.
The words in purple below are called dependent marker words and will be explained in the next section.
What happened when I picked the flower?
This is not a complete thought or sentence.
What happens if my mom is nice? This is not a complete thought or sentence.
What happened while my teacher taught me to read?
This is not a complete thought or sentence.
What happened because the woman sang?
This is not a complete thought or sentence.
Dependent clauses usually start with a dependent marker word , as shown in purple in the examples above.
A dependent marker word is a word added to the beginning of an independent clause to make it dependent .
