Clauses

Subject + Verb = A Clause

If a phrase is a group of words acting as one, a clause is the very engine of a sentence. It is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete idea. A clause always contains a subject and a verb. Some clauses can stand alone as a sentence (independent clauses), while others cannot and must be attached to an independent clause (dependent clauses). This chapter will teach you to identify these building blocks and understand how they combine to create sentences of increasing complexity.

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.