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
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.