There are 2 different kinds of Clauses.
INDEPENDENT CLAUSES and DEPENDENT CLAUSES
What is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE?
An Independent Clause is a clause that has a subject and a predicate and can stand alone as a complete thought.
An Independent Clause is a fancy term for a Complete Sentence.
EXAMPLES
The mirror broke into a thousand pieces.
The girl was afraid of the giant mutated bass.
What is a DEPENDENT CLAUSE?
A Dependent Clause (also called a SUBORDINATE CLAUSES) is a group of words that contain a Subject and a Predicate, but cannot stand alone on its own.
It does not make sense on its own.
EXAMPLES
Whenever he drove the car
You see, this clause above has a subject and a verb, so it is a Clause. However, it does not make sense all by itself.
It needs to be attached to an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.
MORE EXAMPLES
The Dependent Clause is in blue. The Independent Clause is in red.
Whenever he drove the car, the muffler fell off.
Although she could solve the problem on her own, she asked for the little boy’s help.
The Dependent Clause could also come after the Independent Clause.
The muffler fell off whenever he drove the car.
She asked for the little boy’s help although she could solve the problem on her own.
**Notice how there is a comma separating the clauses in the first two examples when the Dependent Clause comes before the Independent Clause.
**When the Dependent Clause comes after the Independent Clause there is NO COMMA.
STILL MORE EXAMPLES
While he slept, the bandit stole his hidden treasures.
Dependent Clause comes first = USE COMMA
The bandit stole his hidden treasures while he slept.
Independent Clause comes first = NO COMMA
