How to Write Good (English Grammar, Spelling and Format Aid)

Clauses (Not the Santa Kind)

I spent like five minutes trying to think of a funny-ish opener and I failed so just pretend there's a hilarious one here.

Sorry I haven't updated in a bit, with school starting back up it's been hard, but I'm back!

So this chapter we're talking clauses. There are four main types of clauses, main, dependent, relative, noun clauses.

Now I'm not gonna lie, that seems like a lot, but once you get a general idea, it helps with your understanding of punctuation.

What exactly are clauses?

We use "clause" to refer to the rules or conditions that come with punctuation. It's really just the order of words or required words to make a sentence flow. By definition, clauses must contain a subject and a verb.

As a native English speaker and an early reader, I always hated clauses because I could kinda vibe check the sentence for where a comma went, and I was right 90% of the time.  (Not me bragging tf)

"So why," you may ask, "Do I need to know the names of these clauses?"

Well, you don't. I'm teaching  you them so you know how they work, not so you can memorize the names.

Okay, so let's start with main clauses. Main clauses (sometimes called independent clauses) are clauses that could be a sentence on their own. Main clauses must have a subject and a verb. Then you just have to see if it works as a stand-alone sentence.

Next is a dependent clause. A dependent clause (also called subordinate clause) is--you guessed it--dependent on an independent clause to exist in a grammatically correct way. They (conveniently) usually begin with the following subordinating conjunctions: when, while, where, as, since, if, although, and because.

This can be simplified with the acronym www.asia.b (No, I don't know if that's an actual website)

Real quick, I'm going to break and show you some examples of main clauses and dependent clauses (in the same sentences too because I'm awesome)

[Brackets show the main clause], (parentheses show the dependent clauses)

[My cat loves to sleep] (where the sunshine strikes the hardwood floors).

[My cat loves to sleep] (if the house is still and quiet).

[My cat loves to sleep] (although she loves to eat even more).

[My cat loves to sleep] (when the sun is on the east side of the house).

[My cat loves to sleep] (while I knit).

[My cat loves to sleep] (since she is an older cat).

[My cat loves to sleep] (as music plays in the background).

Notice how the main clause could be it's own sentence. Slap a period on that bitch and could could end it there. But the dependent clause expands and deepens your perspective, allowing you to see more of the story.

Think of the two like lovers. The main clause doesn't need a partner by any means. Life could go on just the same without one, no one needs to fall in love. But the dependent clause adds to the person's everyday life, giving more to look forward to at the end of the day; adding to the story.

Does that make sense, or am I going too deep with the metaphor? Moving on.

(While we're on the topic though, do y'all personify stuff to learn it better? Like I always did it with numbers and letters to help with equations and spelling, but am I just crazy)

Next the relative clause. A relative clause connects ideas by using pronouns that relate to something previously mentioned and allows the writer to combine two independent clauses into one sentence. A relative clause is also known as an adjective clause, but I learned them as who/which clauses so that's what we're calling it from now on.

Who/which clauses, like dependent clauses, cannon exist on their own, they also add to the main clause. However, the who/which clause has an entirely different set of rules.

They have to be started by a relative pronoun (hence relative clause), such as  'who', 'which',  (hence who/which clause) 'that', 'whose', 'where' and 'when'. 

Noun clauses are simple, it's just a group of words that act as a noun, for example:

"I like who you are," the noun clause "who you are" acts as a single noun.

So now to another question that I'm sure you're asking yourself as I frequently did (and still do):

"Why does this matter?"

Well, once again: it kinda doesn't!

Clauses are separated by commas, colons, and semi-colons (shown in the same order: , : ; )

Basically you need you get a feel for these so you know where commas go.

Well, that's all I have for this chapter. I think I'll try to expand on this a little more, but I think we're almost done with this. If you have questions or want me to cover something, please let me know, I'm happy to help!

The real trick here is practice, okay? I'm covering what I learned over probably 9ish years of school, and I did dozens of worksheets and quizzes and sentence rewrites. You're learning from some rando on Wattpad, give yourself some grace here.

I'll see you next time, if I live that long.

Toodles!