Sentences, Clauses, and FANBOYS

What’s a clause?• A clause is a part of a sentence.

• There are two main types:

– independent clauses

–dependent clauses (subordinate)• But we’ll talk about them later!

Independent Clauses• An independent clause is a complete sentence

that expresses a complete thought.

• It can stand on its own, because it is independent.

• It contains a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE.

• A subject is what the sentence is about. The predicate is what the subject does — the verb.

Subject and Predicate Examples… that are alsoINDEPENDENT CLAUSES

• Mr. Applebaum teaches at Fisher Middle School.

• The dog chased after the cat.

• The students groaned about homework.

Okay so what’s FANBOYS?

• Say you want to combine two independent clauses to form a compound sentence… how do you put them together into a super sentence?

• This is where you need FANBOYS!

No… not a bunch of geeks…

FANBOYS• FANBOYS is an acronym to help you remember

the seven coordinating conjunctions:

• With a comma and a coordinating conjunction, you can combine two independent clauses.

FORANDNOR

ORYETSO

BUT

Examples Using FANBOYS• I decided to go to bed, FOR it is getting

late.

• The dog chased after the cat, AND the cat scratched the dog in revenge.

• I don’t like clowns, NOR do I like circus freaks.

Examples Using FANBOYS• I wanted to go to the movie, BUT I have to go to the

doctor instead.

• My teacher is named Mr. Applebaum, OR you can just call him Mr. A.

• I love going to school, YET I am not looking forward to all the homework.

• I don’t have the money to buy the game, SO I am going to wait until it goes on sale.

Make A FANBOYS Comic• Take your sheet of paper and put it

horizontally or vertically. Then section it off into 8 boxes.

• For the first box, you will be putting the title, FANBOYS, and then your name and period.

ATTACK OF THE

FANBOYS

by Mr. Applebaum

• Then for all the other boxes, you are going to write a compound sentence, using each of the FANBOYS coordinating conjunctions, in a speech bubble, and draw a picture!

ATTACK OF THE

FANBOYS

by Mr. Applebaum

FOR AND

NOR

BUT OR YET SO