The practice exercises on this page are designed to help you understand the concepts in this chapter more fully. These include both interactive exercises and more complex exercises. The list below offers a variety of interactive practice exercises for Chapter 6, covering the key concepts.
The English language is messy, and many times analyzing for grammatical elements is not always as obvious as the simple examples that we use on the content pages. So to assist your ability to analyze all the different texts you may encounter as you read, we want to offer a few more sample analyses of more difficult texts. For these more complicated examples, we review some or all of the key features discussed in Chapter 6. Please review these examples closely, trying to understand the choices made for the analysis. As always, if you have any questions, please ask your instructor or start a conversation in your work group. Analyzing for Clause Forms and Functions – Example #1Adapted from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea. (Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was so very large. For this example, we’ll analyze the form and function of all of the clauses in the passage. Remember to identify the main verb phrases first by looking for tense: As she said these words her foot slipped, and in another moment, she was up to her chin in salt water. Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea. (Alice had been to the seaside once in her life, and had come to the general conclusion, that wherever you go to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the sea, some children digging in the sand with wooden spades, then a row of lodging houses, and behind them a railway station.) However, she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was so very large. Form and Function of Clauses
Note on Other Elements
Analyzing for Clause Types – Example #2Adapted from Moby Dick by Herman Melville: When I was a child, I well remember a somewhat similar circumstance that befell me; whether it was a reality or a dream, I never could entirely settle. The circumstance was this. I had been cutting up some caper or other—I think it was trying to crawl up the chimney, as I had seen a little sweep do a few days previous; and my stepmother who, somehow or other, was whipping me all the time, dragged me by the legs out of the chimney and packed me off to bed, though it was only two o’clock in the afternoon of the 21st June, the longest day in the year in our hemisphere. I felt dreadfully. For this example, we’ll analyze the form and function of all of the clauses in the passage. Remember to identify the main verb phrases first by looking for tense: When I was a child, I well remember a somewhat similar circumstance that befell me; whether it was a reality or a dream, I never could entirely settle. The circumstance was this. I had been cutting up some caper or other—I think it was trying to crawl up the chimney, as I had seen a little sweep do a few days previous; and my stepmother who, somehow or other, was whipping me all the time, dragged me by the legs out of the chimney and packed me off to bed, though it was only two o’clock in the afternoon of the 21st June, the longest day in the year in our hemisphere. I felt dreadfully. Form and Function of Clauses
The most common nominal clauses are interrogative clauses and (nominal) THAT-clauses. Nominal clauses are formed when an interrogative or nominal-THAT precedes the subject of the clause. On occasion, they may replace the subject, but that is more commonly a marker for relatives, so be careful. As it implies, nominal clauses function nominally and can serve any noun role in another structure. In short, nominal clauses can fill any nominal FUNCTION SLOT: subject, direct object, object of the preposition, subject complement, object complement, indirect object, adjective complement, or appositive. The first nominal clause form is an interrogative clause, which is a dependent clause beginning with an interrogative. The most common interrogatives are who, whom, whose, which, where, when, and why. As you can see, this list is basically the same as the list of relatives, so, once again, it is important that you always analyze in context: interrogatives normally precede the subject and the clauses will always function nominally; relative normally replace the subject and the clauses will always function adjectivally.
The second nominal clause form is a THAT-clause, which is a dependent clause with the expletive THAT preceding the subject and indicating its nominal function. NOTE: there are plenty of cases where the THAT as part of the THAT-clause, may be deleted:
So whenever you see a clause that seems like an independent clause following immediately after, especially, a Main Verb Phrase (or non-finite verb) without a dependent clause marker or punctuation, you should suspect a deleted THAT. Nominal clauses perform nominal functions, which means that they can do anything that a noun can do: Subject (SUBJECT SLOT)
Subject complement (SUBJECT COMPLEMENT SLOT) – Sentence Type IV
Direct object (DIRECT OBJECT SLOT) – Sentence Type V
Object complement (OBJECT COMPLEMENT SLOT)
Indirect object (INDIRECT OBJECT SLOT)
Object of the preposition (OBJECT OF THE PREPOSITION SLOT)
Appositive
To reiterate, as we discussed with Clause Types, our language does occur in consistent patterns, and that certain functional slots appear in the same places:
Keep this in mind, especially, when analyzing for nominal clauses. Finally, remember that when analyzing clauses, always begin by identifying the Main Verb Phrase to determine if it is actually a clause. In other words, before you can determine if a clause is independent or dependent, you have to find the main verb phrase. The ability to recognize a clause and to know whether a clause is independent or dependent is essential to make appropriate punctuation and stylistic choices in writing.
You can use the following flow chart to help guide your analysis:
The next dependent clause form is the relative clause, which is formed when a relative (either relative pronoun or relative adverb) introduces a clause by replacing the subject of the clause. This relative refers to (relates to) or provides additional information about a preceding nominal; therefore, relative clauses always function adjectivally.
In English, the five prototypical relatives are who, whom, whose, which, and that (not to be confused with the nominal-that). Functioning adjectivally means that the relative clause provides extra information that either defines something or provides non-essential, but interesting, added information. Like adjectives, they modify nominals, which will be their antecedent. The car that hit me was changing lanes.
The professor whose schedule was changed threatened to quit.
Relatives always have an antecedent, or a preceding nominal to which they refer and which they modify. On occasion, a relative will precede the subject of a clause, most often for the adverbial relatives, where, when, and why. They create relative clauses that function adjectivally within a sentence by modifying a nominal, but if we were analyzing at the word level within their own clauses, the adverbial relative itself would be identified as adverbial since it provides information about time, manner, and place. But the important thing is that the clause is a relative clause and functions adjectivally. Our great-grandparents lived in a time when the environment was less polluted.
Please explain the reason why you can’t turn in the assignment.
The first dependent clause form is the subordinate clause, which is formed when a a subordinating element, such as a subordinator, immediately precedes the subject of the clause. The subordinator, therefore, is the KEY DEPENDENT MARKER for identifying a subordinate clause and it must precede the subject.
The subordinate clause always functions adverbially. In other words, a subordinate clause assumes a ‘part-to-whole’ relationship with an independent clause. As with most adverbials, a key test for a subordinate clause is if the whole clause can move around in the sentence or be deleted, with the sentence retaining the same basic meaning: When I have a free hour, I’ll finish my homework.I’ll finish my homework when I have a free hour. He waited while I cashed a check.While I cashed a check, he waited. Obviously, the subordinate clause in these two examples adds important information, but it is not required information for the independent clause to be understood as written. Some common subordinators include: after, as, before, for, since, through, until, while. There are others, but this basic list will get you started. While subordinators and prepositions may appear similar (and are often drawn from the same list of words), don’t confuse subordinate clauses and prepositional phrases. You should be able to distinguish between a prepositional phrase. At midnight, I went to the market.As the clock struck midnight, I went to the market. While both the prepositional phrase and the subordinate clause are functioning adverbially (you can move them around in the sentence: I went to the market at midnight; I went to the market as the clock struck midnight), you should be able to recognize the differences between the highlighted structures.
A dependent clause is a clause that is unable to stand independently because of its DEPENDENT MARKER which requires that it function either nominally, adjectivally, or adverbially. This means that a dependent clause can fit into any of those FUNCTION SLOTS as an entire clause.
The most common dependent clause forms include subordinate clauses, relative clauses, interrogative clauses, and that-clauses. This means that the subject of a dependent clause will be preceded by a subordinator or an interrogative or a nominal-that. In most cases the subject will be replaced by a relative. Moreover, as we will discuss shortly, each of these dependent clauses function in a very specific and prescribed way.
Remember, the dependent marker will either precede the subject or replace the subject. On some occasions, a THAT dependent marker will be deleted. In most cases, those are nominal clauses serving as the direct object of another clause.
An independent clause is a clause that is able to stand alone as a sentence and is NOT preceded by a dependent marker.
For an independent clause, the subject is the first element in the clause, with no dependent marker preceding it. Keep in mind that words like an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or a coordinating conjunction, for example, may precede the subject of an independent clause, but these words are NOT a dependent marker. Remember that adverbials are always optional. For example, let’s examine these three clauses. Margot’s mind reeled, and she could hear the listless, scraping sounds of fingertips against the door. Consequently, It haunted her to consider the sea of faces outside.
Each of these clauses is an independent clause. As always, we begin our analysis of clauses by identifying the Main Verb Phrase of each clause. Then the next step is to identify if there are any dependent markers. In this example, there are no dependent markers present.
An independent clause can only function as an independent clause, so its form and function are always INDEPENDENT CLAUSE. While most independent clauses are declaratives, there are two “other” independent clauses that you should be able to account for in your analysis: questions and imperatives. As we stated earlier, this is not a syntax textbook, but we do need to point out that both questions and imperatives are created through transformation, whereby declarative clauses, as the deep meaning, have become either a question or a command. While we will give you a very basic primer on question and imperative transformations, we are really only interested in you recognizing questions and imperatives as independent clauses. Questions are also known as interrogatives, but in this textbook we call them QUESTIONS so as not to confuse them with interrogative clauses. As a brief primer, we will describe two types of questions:
The yes/no question transformation includes two steps:
The wh- question transformation includes four steps:
The KEY MARKER for questions is, obviously, the QUESTION MARK at the end of the clause. Imperative sentences give commands and issue orders. The imperative transformation contains two steps:
This is the only independent clause in this course with an implied subject. And while the key marker for the imperative is the exclamation point at the end of the clause, be careful not to confuse an inadvertent sentence fragment with the stylistic choice made to use an imperative. A sentence fragment is NOT an imperative. Again, the key is not that you can analyze and describe the transformations, but that you recognize questions and imperatives as independent clauses.
Remember, the key is, first, to identify the main verb phrase so that you know that it is a clause, and, second, to determine if a dependent marker is present or not. As we will discuss in the upcoming pages, dependent markers are a relatively closed list, so familiarize yourself with these words so that you can recognize them quickly and easily. An independent clause begins with the subject, so begin to recognize the difference between an adverbial phrase, which can be moved or deleted, and a dependent marker.
This chapter will describe the form and function of clauses. There are two primary clause forms: independent clauses and dependent clauses.
As we described in Chapter 5, a CLAUSE is a fundamental grammatical structure that must have both a nominal subject and a main verb phrase/predicate to be a clause. If both elements are not present, then it cannot be a clause. Also, remember that a clause is NOT a sentence. A sentence can contain one clause, or it can contain many, many clauses. We’ll talk more about sentences and the ways that multiple clauses help us analyze for sentence variety.
In the previous chapter, we introduced clause types to understand patterns (FUNCTION SLOTS) in English. We now want you to take your analysis to another level of complexity by analyzing clauses for form and function. Just as with WORDS and PHRASES, the form of a clause names the clause and the function of a clause states how it is acting in a particular context. Make sure that you understand the difference between clause types and clause forms.
There are two primary clause forms: independent clauses and dependent clauses.
An independent clause is a clause that is able to stand alone as a sentence. An independent clause can only function as an independent clause, so its form and function is always independent clause.
A dependent clause is a clause that is unable to stand independently because of its DEPENDENT MARKER which requires that it function either nominally, adjectivally, or adverbially, thereby fitting into a FUNCTION SLOT as an entire clause.
You should be able to distinguish between an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE and a DEPENDENT CLAUSE. The key difference is whether or not a dependent marker precedes the subject. We will discuss this difference in more detail in the upcoming pages. Moreover, once you can tell the difference between an independent clause and a dependent clause, you should then be able to identify the function of any dependent clause in the context of its sentence.
The practice exercises on this page are designed to help you understand the concepts in this chapter more fully. These include both interactive exercises and more complex exercises. The table below lists a variety of interactive practice exercises for Chapter 3, covering the key concepts. If you have any questions about the exercises, or the answers, please contact your teacher for explanation.
The English language is messy, and many times analyzing for grammatical elements is not always as obvious as the simple examples that we use on the content pages. So to assist your ability to analyze all the different texts you may encounter as you read, we want to offer a few more sample analyses of more difficult texts. For these more complicated examples, we review some or all of the key features discussed in Chapter 3. Please review these examples closely, trying to understand the choices made for the analysis. As always, if you have any questions, please ask your instructor or start a conversation in your work group. Analyzing for Clause Types – Example #1Adapted from Call of the Wild by Jack London: At the Pelly one morning, as they were harnessing up, Dolly, who had never been conspicuous for anything, went suddenly mad. She announced her condition by a long, heartbreaking wolf howl that sent every dog bristling with fear, then sprang straight for Buck. He had never seen a dog go mad; yet he knew that here was horror. For this example, we’ll analyze all of the clause types in the passage. Remember to identify the main verb phrases first by looking for tense: At the Pelly one morning, as they were harnessing up, Dolly, who had never been conspicuous for anything, went suddenly mad. She announced her condition by a long, heartbreaking wolf howl that sent every dog bristling with fear, then sprang straight for Buck. He had never seen a dog go mad; yet he knew that here was horror. Clauses
Note on Other Elements
Analyzing for Clause Types – Example #2Adapted from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens: I had led this life about a month, when the man with the wooden leg began to stump about with a mop and a bucket of water, from which I inferred that preparations were making to receive Mr. Creakle and the boys. I was not mistaken; Mr. Mell and me were so continually in the midst of dust that I sneezed almost as much as if Salem House had been a great snuff-box. For this example, we’ll analyze all of the clause types in the passage. Remember to identify the main verb phrases first by looking for tense: I had led this life about a month, when the man with the wooden leg began to stump about with a mop and a bucket of water, from which I inferred that preparations were making to receive Mr. Creakle and the boys. I was not mistaken; Mr. Mell and me were so continually in the midst of dust that I sneezed almost as much as if Salem House had been a great snuff-box. Clauses