Text Chap. 15
Text Chap. 17
Grammar Text Table of Contents
Chapter 16 – Subordinate Clauses.
A. Nominal (Noun) Clauses.
B. Modifying Clauses.
1. Adjectival (Relative) Clauses.
2. Adverbial Clauses.
We have finally arrived at subordinate clauses. I hope that Chapter 15 illuminated you significantly on what you already know about them and how to recognize them in sentences. I will continue what I started in Chapter 15 by giving you another rather fuzzy definition, apologizing profusely before I even give it for its inadequacy.
A subordinate clause is a clause (that is it fits one of the seven basic sentence patterns) that can’t stand alone as a sentence.
I have said it and I now will debunk it. Whether a clause (or a phrase for that matter) can stand alone as a sentence is largely a matter of context. For instance, if the boss says you have to stay late at work and you respond with the one-word question, "Why?" ( a complete sentence, by the way), the boss might say, "Because I said so." That will stand alone as a complete sentence about as well as any sentence you might have heard that day. Yet it is constructed as a subordinate clause. In recent grammars, the grammarians have been more willing to accept such sentences as complete. Constance Weaver calls them "minor sentences." It’s a name, not a very apt one considering the major consequences of ignoring the boss’s final words above. But I’m willing to stretch a little to achieve harmony. Let’s just say that we are no longer dealing with prescriptive grammar. We are describing what actually happens in speech and writing. Then we back up to some sort of formulation that explains it. Many minor sentences can be explained as being elided. That is, parts are left out because the hearer or reader is already fully aware of them. The boss’s full statement would have been (without elision) "You have to stay late because I said so." But then you would have been insulted by his failure to recognize that you already know the first part of the sentence. He doesn’t need to repeat it. Therefore, we get a minor sentence as opposed to a sentence that is not a minor sentence (a major sentence?)
But I fear I’m rambling.
Remember: everything that follows refers to subordinate (dependent) clauses. Nominal clauses, adjectival clauses, and adverbial clauses cannot (I repeat, CANNOT) be independent clauses.
A. Nominal (Noun) Clauses.
In sentences, nominal clauses can occur as subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement (Nom), object complement (Nom), or object of a preposition. Have I missed any? The following are examples of sentences containing nominal clauses:
That you are here is obvious. (Subject)
I guessed what was inside the Christmas box. (Direct Object)
I am what I am. (Subject Complement)
I gave whoever arrived a box of candy. (Indirect Object)
We called Jean what she wanted to be called. (Object Complement)
I have a box of what you need. (Object of a Preposition)
B. Modifying Clauses.
There are two types of modifying clauses. You already know what they are: adjectival (often called relative) and adverbial. Modifying clauses can appear anywhere any other modifier can appear. If you know where you can find an adjective or adverb phrase, you know where you can find an adjectival or adverbial clause. Of course, the usual disclaimer: just because it is grammatically feasible for a modifying clause to be placed in any modifier slot doesn’t mean you would ever find one in a particular slot. We just don’t use them in some syntactic roles.
1. Adjectival Clauses (usually called Relative Clauses) .
Because you are already aware of the range of adjective phrases, all we need to do here is provide a list of examples of clauses being used in that range.
The boy who saved my life received an award. (Postmodifier of the head of the subject noun phrase)
The president is the one who left town. (Postmodifier of the head of the subject complement noun phrase. Notice that the head of this subject complement is a pronoun.)
I gave the lady who watches my child an extra dollar. (Postmodifier of the head of the indirect object noun phrase.)
You gave me the teaching package that was required. (Postmodifier of the head of the direct object noun phrase.)
We spoke of ships that pass in the night. (Postmodifier of the head of the object noun phrase of a preposition.)
2. Adverbial Clauses.
Ditto! But, again, notice that adverbial clauses are often capable of moving to various locations in the sentence. We usually think of the adverbial clause as modifying a verb (usually the main verb of the sentence), but that assumption is often fuzzy at best and false at worst. Try not to get shipwrecked upon such silly stones.
Before I was a professor, I was a janitor.
Use oars when you go upstream in a rowboat.
If you can read this, you are following too closely. (Notice that fronted clauses are usually followed by a comma.)
Because he was not wise, he didn’t do his homework.
We brought smelly cheese so we could fish with it.
I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t think straight. (Note that sometimes the subordinating word (that) is left out of a subordinate clause.
There is much more that could be said about subordinate clauses. I fear, however, that anything more that is said here would merely muddy the waters.
Chapter 16 Homework Assignment: Type a paragraph from a book you are reading (Not this one!). Mark and identify three subordinate clauses in the paragraph. One must be nominal, one adjectival, and one adverbial.