Letters Home from Yosemite

Clauses and Complex Sentences

A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb.

A dependent clause begins with a word such a because or when.

It cannot stand alone as a sentence.

•Independent Clauses can stand alone.

•Dependent Clause: when we saw Yosemite

•Independent Clause: It was a beautiful fall day.

A sentence made up of a dependent clause and an independent clause is a complex sentence.

When the dependent clause comes first in the sentence, it is followed by a comma.

• When we saw Yosemite, it was a beautiful fall day.

• It was a beautiful fall day when we saw Yosemite.

We value our national parks because they are so wild.

Although people love cities, the wilderness is special.

Until a law was passed, our country had no national parks.

As you probably know, there are many parks today.

Since I last wrote, we’ve made big plans.

After school gets out, Ted can take us camping.

We’ll go to Baxter State Park because it’s really wild.

If the weather is good, we can climb Mt. Katahdin.

We don’t plan our route until we’ve studied the map.

Before we go, we need to decide about food.

Grandpa told stories at night ___ we stayed up to listen.

A , and C , orB and, D and

In one story he had scared a ghost ____ in another he had tamed a tornado.

A and C orB , and D or,

A. unless you want to freezeB. when you packC. if you like hot foodD. carry matches with you

E. because we started lateF. although we’re very tiredG. we have a long way to goH. Since we got lost

___ we can’t light a fire, we’ll eat sandwiches.A.OrB.SinceC.BeforeD.But

The dog growls ___ she hears the coyotes howling.

A.althoughB.whenC.orD.but

When school is out, we will visit my uncle Bill.

Before he retired, he worked in New York City.

He moved to Vermont after he bought an old farm.

Although he is not a farmer, he loves life in Vermont.

Lou sat in the front. He had never been in a canoe. (since)

We paddled upstream. We were tired. (until)

We stopped. We came to a good place for lunch. (when)

The swimming was great. The water was cold. (although)