Grammar

Independent Clauses: Types, Definitions, and Examples

Independent Clauses: Types, Definitions, and Examples

What is an Independent Clause?

An independent clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a complete sentence. It expresses a complete thought.

  • She walked to the park.
  • He likes to play basketball.
  • The dog barked loudly.
  • They went to the beach.
  • I enjoy reading books.

Types of independent Clause:

There are three main types:

  • Simple Independent Clause
  • Compound Independent Clause
  • Complex Independent Clause

Simple Independent Clause:

A simple Independent Clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb and can stand alone as a complete sentence. It is used to expresses a complete thought.

Examples:

  • She reads books in the morning.
  • We play games in the ground.
  • He runs fast in the ground.
  • It rains often in the city.

Compound Independent Clause:

A compound independent clause is used when you have two or more complete thoughts that can stand alone as sentences, and you join them together using a coordinating conjunction like and, but, or or.

Examples:

  • I ate dinner, and she watched a movie.
  • She ran quickly, but he walked slowly.
  • He read a book, and she painted a picture.

Complex Independent Clauses:

A compound independent clause is used when you have two separate sentences (independent clauses) that are connected together with a comma and a coordinating conjunction like “and, but, or so. It’s like putting two simple sentences together to make a longer sentence. For example, I like pizza, and she likes burgers. In this sentence, I like pizza and she likes burgers are both complete sentences, but we’ve joined them together with and to make one longer sentence.

Examples:

  • Although it rained, we still went to the park.
  • She studied hard, while her friends watched TV.
  • Since the sun had set, we turned on the lights.
Independent Clauses: Types, Definitions, and Examples

Independent Clauses: Types, Definitions, and Examples


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