dependent clause

A group of words that has both a subject and a verb but (unlike an independent clause) cannot stand alone as a sentence. Also known as a subordinate clause.

Dependent clauses include adverb clauses, adjective clauses, and noun clauses.

See also:

• Adjective Clause
• Adverb Clause
• Clause
• Comparative Clause
• Complement Clause
• Complex Sentence
• Compound-Complex Sentence
• Conditional Clause
• Exercise in Identifying Adverb Clauses
• Noun Clause
• Relative Clause
• Subordinating Conjunction

Examples and Observations:

• "A dependent clause (also called a subordinate clause) is a clause that cannot stand alone, because something about it implies that there is more to come. On its own, a dependent clause is left hanging, its meaning incomplete. It must be combined with an independent clause in order to form a complete sentence.
  
  "One type of dependent clause is essentially an independent clause with a subordinating word tacked on. Specifically, it opens with a conjunction that indicates a dependent relationship with information elsewhere in the sentence."
  (Anne Stilman, Grammatically Correct. Writer's Digest Books, 1997)



• "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
  (Philo)



• "Never forget me, because if I thought you would, I'd never leave." (A. A. Milne)



• "It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." (Laura Ingalls Wilder)



• "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"
  (Albert Einstein)



• "There can be levels of complexity within complex sentences. Within a dependent clause, for instance, there can be another dependent clause. For example, in the following sentence there is a main clause . . ., a dependent clause in an adverbial relationship with the main clause (in italics), and a dependent clause [bold italics] in an adverbial relationship with the first dependent clause:

  If you want to survive the elements when you go hiking, you should remember to bring along a drink, pocket knife, whistle, map, torch, compass, blanket and food.

  (Peter Knapp and Megan Watkins, Genre, Text, Grammar: Technologies for Teaching and Assessing Writing. University of New South Wales Press, 2005)



• "Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own."
  (Nelson Algren)



• "We learn what we have said from those who listen to our speaking."
  (Kenneth Patchen)



• "I still need the camera because it is the only reason anyone is talking to me."
  (Annie Leibovitz)



• "It doesn't matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was."
  (Anne Sexton)



• "When I was young, I used to admire intelligent people; as I grow older, I admire kind people."
  (Abraham Joshua Heschel)