COMPLEX SENTENCEShave both an independent clause and a dependent clause.

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“But WAIT!” demanded the puzzled student. “What’s a clause?”

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“Are you talking about Santa?” asked another puzzled student (one who had apparently been absent for the past three weeks).

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“What a wonderful question,” replies the incredibly patient teacher, who knew she’d mentioned this a thousand times, but was more than happy to teach her students again!

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“A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and its verb,” she said kindly and compassionately.

She continued by saying, “Some clauses are independent and can stand alone, but some clauses are dependent and must be attached to an independent clause.”

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“Picture the independent clause to be the mother and the dependent clause as the baby,” the incredibly kind, patient, and compassionate teacher continued.

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“You see, precious students, the baby clause has some word in front of it that makes it dependent upon the mother. Let’s think of that word as THE STROLLER, which makes the baby clause dependent upon its mother.”

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“What kind of word, teacher?” asked a curious student who truly wanted to learn!

“Well, sometimes that word is called a subordinating conjunction, and sometimes that word is just connecting the subject/verb to the independent clause – to it’s mommy.” The teacher was patient as always when she went on to say, “Let’s look in the grammar section of our portfolios to take another look at those words. Here are a few:”

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TIME CAUSE + EFFECT

OPPOSITION

CONDITION

after because although ifbefore since though unlesswhen now that even

thoughonly if

while as whereas whether or not

since in order that

while even if

until so in case (that)

Subordinating Conjunctions

•A: after, although, as, as if, as long as, as much as, as soon as, as though•B: because, before, by the time•E: even if, even though•I: if, in order that, in case•L: lest•O: once, only if•P: provided that•S: since, so that•T: than, that, though, till•U: unless, until•W: when, whenever, where, wherever, while

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“Here are some pronouns that often connect a dependent clause to its independent clause. Remember, boys and girls, that sometimes these pronouns not only connect the two clauses, but they sometimes are the subject of the dependent clause’s verb.”

who, whom, whose, which, and that

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• Oh, dear, thought the teacher to herself. My students appear to be confused again. Perhaps we should try creating a few complex sentences.

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ClauseThe dog barks

The cat meowed

The students worked diligently

The teacher walked around the room

The teacher showed them an exercise

The students appreciated their amazing teacher

Subordinating Conj.because

when

as

while

that

who

Clausethe cat meowed.

the dog barked.

the teacher walked around the room.

the students worked diligently.

gave away all the answers.

shared her wisdom.

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“Are you able to see which column contains the dependent clauses? Are you able to recognize how the subordinating conjunction changes the subject/verb combination to a dependent one?” asked the beautiful teacher, whose hair had turned gray from years of working with students who appreciate her efforts and hard work.

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“Let’s look at an exercise in our grammar book and work with independent and dependent clauses, children,” said the tenacious teacher. “Hopefully, after today, you will be able to earn lots of extra credit points, which will make me feel like this . . . . .”

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