What are clauses in English Grammar?

Clauses are defined as the words, consisting of a subject and a finite form of a verb. Every complete sentence is made up of at least one clause.

There are Two Major Types of Clauses

• Independent clauses
• Dependent clauses

Let us have a look at the sentences below

• Mia bought a new computer. (One sentence, one clause)
• Mia bought a new computer, but she still has the old one. (One sentence, two clauses)

• A Dependent Clause (or subordinate clause) does not make sense by itself because it does not express a complete thought.

“But she still has his old one”. (a dependent clause is a sentence fragment.)

• An Independent Clause (or main clause) makes sense by itself because it expresses a complete thought.

Mia bought a new computer. (One independent clause)

Mia bought a new computer, but she still has the old one. (Two independent clauses)