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Clauses
Summary
Understanding the structure and function of clauses is crucial for constructing complete sentences, a key skill tested on the GRE exam.
- Clauses serve as the building blocks of sentences, with main (independent) clauses forming complete sentences on their own, and dependent (subordinate) clauses requiring additional information to form a complete sentence.
- A clause is defined by the presence of both a noun subject and a verb, distinguishing it from a phrase which lacks this structure.
- Dependent clauses, also known as subordinate clauses, cannot stand alone as sentences and often introduce conditions, reasons, times, or contrasts when combined with independent clauses.
- The correct use of conjunctions is essential in linking independent and dependent clauses, with subordinating conjunctions playing a key role in forming grammatically correct sentences.
- Understanding and identifying comma splices and the proper use of conjunctions and punctuation are vital skills for crafting complete sentences and avoiding common grammatical errors.
Chapters
00:00
The Essence of Clauses
00:10
Independent vs. Dependent Clauses
00:00
The Role of Conjunctions
05:27
Avoiding Common Sentence Construction Errors
