What do you call a group of words with subject and verb and can either stand by itself or depend on other parts?

Sentences are made up of clauses and phrases. A clause is a group of words that contain at least a subject and a verb (NB: a clause can be a sentence).

There are four sentence types: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

A simple sentence is made up of one independent clause. An independent clause is a group of words, consisting of at least a verb and a noun that can stand alone as a sentence and is a complete idea. A simple sentence may also contain an object. Have a look at these examples:

I saw a psychologist is an independent clause. It contains a subject (I) and a verb (saw), and expresses a complete thought.

Public safety must be the primary concern of any police force is also an independent clause that also includes an object. It contains a subject (Public safety), a verb (must be), and an object (the primary concern of any police force).

A compound sentence is a sentence made up of two or more independent clauses joined together. You can join clauses in two different ways, using a coordinating conjunction or a semi-colon. Coordinating conjunctions consist of the following words: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So ("FANBOYS"). Have a look at these examples:

Professional athletes train at a higher intensity than other individuals, so they are fitter than them. (conjunction: so)

Public safety must be the primary concern of any police force, and officer training should focus on public safety above all else. (conjunction: and)

Professional athletes train at a higher intensity than other individuals; they are fitter than them. (semi-colon use)

Public safety must be the primary concern of any police force; officer training should focus on public safety above all else. (semi-colon use)

Note the punctuation (commas & semi-colons) used above to separate these independent clauses.

Common Grammatical Errors

• Joining two independent clauses together with ONLY a comma is grammatically incorrect, and is called a comma splice.
• Not using any punctuation or connecting words between independent clauses is also grammatically incorrect, and is called a run-on sentence.

A complex sentence consists of one independent clause and one or more dependent (subordinate) clauses which provide more information to support the independent clause. A dependent clause does not express a complete idea. In a complex sentence there is normally one idea that is more important than the other. Have a look at these examples:

Healthcare professionals are people who are experts in health and are willing to help others. (bold print: independent clause; normal print: dependent clause)

Police force officers are trained in public safety and are expected to maintain law and order is society. (bold print: independent clause; normal print: dependent clause)

1. Compound-Complex Sentences

A compound-complex sentence contains at least three clauses. Two of these clauses MUST be independent clauses. You can have any combination of clauses just as long as 2 or more are independent and one or more is dependent. Have a look at these examples:

I could not decide where I should work or what I should do, so at first I did nothing. (bold print: independent clause; normal print: dependent clause; coordinating conjunction: so)

I wanted to travel after I graduated from my studies at ACAP, however, I had to work and save first. (bold print: independent clause; normal print: dependent clause; note that 'however' is not a conjunction)

• Effective writers combine short and long sentences and ensure their written work is clear and easy to understand. In spite of what people may think, using long and complicated sentences is not a sign of academic scholarship. Make sure your writing expresses your points clearly.

Watch a video on fixing sentences with missing parts

What is the ideal sentence length?

Using too many short sentences or sentences that are too long, complicated, or convoluted can significantly mar your written work. Ideally a sentence should be between 15-25 words, however using some slightly shorter or longer sentences can also be effective in your written work.

Watch a video on sentence length and order

I want to know more about sentences!

Learning Objectives

• Differentiate between phrases and clauses
• Differentiate between dependent and independent clauses

Phrases and clauses are groups of words that act as a unit and perform a single function within a sentence. A phrase is a group of words that may have a partial subject or verb but not both, or it may have neither a subject nor a verb. Phrases never have a subject doing the action of a verb. A clause, however, is by definition a group of words that has a subject and a verb. A sentence can have any number of clauses and phrases combined together. See the examples below:

Notice how each of the clauses has a subject and a verb, but the phrases do not. Some of the clauses contain phrases, like “She laughs at shy people.” “She laughs” is a clause, and “at shy people” is a phrase that complements the clause and completes the sentence.

Phrases can be any combination of words that do not combine a subject and a verb. There are many types of phrases, including noun phrases (the nice neighbor, my best friend, troops of soliders), verbal phrases (waiting for the rain to stop, have been sleeping), and prepositional phrases, which follow a preposition (after the storm, to the end of time, in the road).

You might be tempted to just assume that phrases are shorter than clauses. This is not always true. Many phrases are only two words long, but many are much longer. Look at the following sentence:

• In 1833, Faraday’s experimentation with electrolysis indicated a natural unit of electrical charge, thus pointing to a discrete rather than continuous charge.

Each of the bolded segments of this sentence is a phrase. Be sure as you analyze each sentence that you are looking for a subject and a verb to decipher what is a clause and what is just a phrase.

Click through this interactive to learn more about the differences between clauses and phrases.

Dependent and Independent Clauses

There are two types of clauses: dependent and independent. A dependent clause has both a subject and a verb, but is not a complete sentence and does not express a complete thought. It is dependent on something else: it cannot stand on its own. Some examples of dependent clauses include:

• When we get enough snow
• Because I was upset
• Which book I want to read next
• Until the sun sets

You can see that each of these clauses has a noun and a verb, but they also have an additional word, like a subordinating conjunction (because) or a relative pronoun (which), which makes the clause feel incomplete. These clauses must be attached to an independent clause to be a part of a complete sentence.

An independent clause, on the other hand, is free to stand by itself. It contains a subject and a verb, and expresses a complete thought which does not require anything else. Here are some examples of independent clauses:

• I enjoy sitting by the fireplace.
• The sun set.
• This is the book I want to read next.

So how can you tell if a clause is dependent or independent? Sometimes they can be almost exactly the same. For example, “I was a little girl in 1995” is an independent clause, but “Because I was a little girl in 1995” is a dependent clause.

Look for the common words that are known to make dependent clauses, like subordinating conjunctions and relative pronouns. Some common ones are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, since, though, unless, until, whatever, when, whenever, whether, and while. Also pay attention to if the clause makes sense standing by itself. Do you understand the whole idea of what the sentence is saying? Does the thought seem incomplete? If it feels incomplete, it is probably a dependent clause.

Watch this video to learn more about dependent and independent clauses.

You can view the transcript for “Dependent and independent clauses” here (opens in new window).

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