SUBORDİNATİON: DEPENDENT CLAUSES

If a clause in a sentence is not independent, it is called a subordinate clause (dependent clause).

Mainly 3 roles of dependent clauses in a sentence:

1. Adverbial

2. Adjectival

3. Nominal

1. ADVERBİAL

Because a weasel is wild, it should be approached with great caution.

Yesterday the teacher called the students lazy when they complained about their assignments.

Some of the conjunctions used for adverbial clauses:

after before until while since as so that in order that because if unless whether although even though where

when

ADVERBİAL EXAMPLES

When will the flowers bloom?: when spring arrives

How did he answer the question?: as if he knew the subject quite well

Why didn't the poor woman have money?: because she had lost her job

2. ADJECTİVAL Modifier of a noun (relative clause-who, whom, which,

that, whose).

The man who lives upstairs bothers the neighbors.HE bothers THEM(S) (V) (O)

headword adjectival

The man who lives upstairs bothers the neighbors.HE bothers THEM(S) (V) (O)

Don’t forget! An adjectival clause follows the headword of the noun phrase in the sentence.

The neighbors know the man who lives upstairs

They know him (S) (V) (O)

headword adjectival

The neighbors know the man who lives upstairs

They know him (S) (V) (O)

OTHER ADJECTİVAL EXAMPLES

Which book did Joe read?: the one that I gave him

What kind of politician has the support of the people?: the one who is trustworthy

Which season?: the one when everything blooms

Which house?: the one where I was born

MORE EXAMPLES FOR ADJECTİVAL CLAUSES

An object that weighs five pounds on earth would weigh two pounds on the planet Mercury.

All the men who/whom citizens of the United States have elected as president have been native-born.

Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, grew up in Hannibal, Missouri.

Attention! We USE COMMAS when identification of the noun is not necessary.

E.g.

John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, was the first Catholic president. (a familiar info)

The highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest, is located in Asia. (a fact)

If the clause answers the question ‘Which One?’, then we DO NOT USE COMMAS.

E.g The man who came by yesterday is my

professor.

Which man?

Without the relative clause, we don’t know which man.

3. NOMİNAL

Noun clauses

Annie Dillard says that a weasel is wild. something

Like a noun, a nominal clause names a person, place, thing, or idea. A nominal clause may function in a sentence as any of the following:

subject subjective complement

object of preposition direct object

indirect object

Nominal clauses may begin with ‘that’ or interrogatives:

who whom what which whoever whomever whatever

when where how why

Nominal Clause as Subject in a sentence

Nominal Clause as Subject Complement in a sentence

Nominal Clause as Object of Preposition in a sentence

Nominal Clause as Direct Object in a sentence

Nominal Clause as Indirect Object in a sentence

Nominal Clause beginning with That

Nominal Clause beginning with Whether

Nominal Clause beginning with If