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| Arup Roy, Lecturer in English Language & Literature, Kanchkura University College, Uttarkhan, Airport, Dhaka |
The clause is of three types:
1. Independent Clause: An Independent clause can express complete sense. For its meaning, it does not depend on any other clause.
ü He told me the story which was written by Shakespeare. The part in bold can express complete sense even separated from the sentence.
2. Dependent Clause: A dependent clause cannot express a complete sense of its own. For meaning, it has to depend on the Principal or independent clause.
ü He told me the story which was written by Shakespeare. The part in bold is a dependent clause. It cannot express complete sense if separated from the sentence.
3. Co-ordinate Clause: Co-ordinate clause consists of two Independent clauses joined by C0-ordinating conjunction such as and, but, yet, otherwise, or, nor, either------or, neither------nor, etc.
ü You have to study hard or you cannot make complete sense of the book.
ü One must practice speaking the truth or people will not trust a liar.
ü We work hard and we make our fate.
NOUN CLAUSE
A noun clause behaves like a noun in a sentence. It sits in various parts of a sentence. It can be connected by three kinds of connectives: (i) Conjunction – that (expressed/understood), (ii) Interrogative Pronoun – Who, what, and (III) Interrogative adverb- how, where, why, if, etc.
i) Used as a subject to a verb: when a noun clause is used as a subject, it starts with "that", "what", "how", "when", "why", "whether", etc. In this regard, such noun clause is used as a subject of the "be" verb (am, is, are was, were. This type of sentence consists of two parts: the first part (before the "be" verb/linking verb) is the noun clause and the second part (after the "be" verb/linking verb) is the principal clause.
Structure: noun clause + be verb + principal clause
ü That you did the work is clear. If we want to separate the principal clause from such a complex sentence, we need to add it as a subject of the principal clause: “It is clear”.
ü Why he has done this remains a riddle to us. (“It remains a riddle to us).
ii) Used as an object to a verb: when noun clause is used as an object to a verb, it starts with that, Wh words such as what, when, where, who, why, whether, how and if. Noun clause, very often, is used as an object of a transitive verb.
Structure: Principal Clause + Noun Clause
ü I know that he can do it.
ü I knew who wrote to me.
ü I cannot understand how he failed the exam.
iii) Used as a complement to an object: Noun clause starts with that, what, why, how, whatever, if when it is used as a complement to an object.
Structure: Subject + verb + object + Noun Clause as complement to object
ü I told him what I have written in my book.
ü I may give you whatever I have.
Complement is of two types: Subjective complement and objective complement.
a. Subjective complement: We use subjective complement to fulfill the meaning of a subject. For example, he is happy. If you say "He is", it will not give us complete sense. The question, ‘how is he?’ remains unanswered. Therefore, the meaning becomes complete when we add ‘happy’.
b. Objective complement: sometimes we used some extra words to express the complete meaning of an object. These extra words work as a unit called objective complement. For example, we found him exhausted. If we say, ‘We found him", a part of meaning remains unexpressed. We can get the complete meaning when we say: ‘We found his exhausted.’
iv) Used as an object to a preposition: When a noun clause is used as an object to preposition, it starts with that, wh-words: what, where, who, when, how, which.
Structure: Principal Clause + Noun clause as an object to preposition.
ü I depend on how you work.
ü He has come from where I used to work.
ü He informed me that he would stay with me.
v) Used in Apposition to a Noun or the Pronoun “it”. A noun in apposition provides extra information to the preceding noun. It usually starts with that.
Structure: Subject + Verb + Noun + Noun Clause in Apposition
ü There is a rumor that he has committed a crime.
ü You must tell the truth that you are responsible for it.
Adjective Clause
Like an adjective, an adjective clause modifies a noun. Generally, an adjective qualifies a noun sitting before it. An adjective also sits after a linking verb. But Adjective clause always sits after a noun.
In an adjective clause, some relative pronouns are used. Such relative pronouns are seen in all three forms (subject, object, and possessive).
Forms of the Relative Pronoun
|
Subjective Form |
Objective Form |
Possessive Form |
|
For Person |
who that |
whom/who |
whose |
|
For things |
which that |
Whose That |
which of which |
There is always an antecedent before an Adjective clause.
In an adjective clause, we use relative clauses such as who, which, that, whom, whose, of which, and relative adverbs such as why, where, when, how, as, etc.
But, a relative pronoun is omitted when a relative pronoun works like an adjective clause and object of a transitive verb.
ü Tamim was the player who made two consecutive hundred.
i) Adjective clause with a relative pronoun as subject: in this regard, subjective form of Relative pronoun (who, which, that) is used as a subject of Adjective clause.
ü Karim is a rich man who likes to donate money. Here, “who” is the subject of the relative clause, and “man” is the antecedent of “who”.
An adjective clause may sit amid the Main clause.
ü The man who came to me yesterday is my brother.
ii) Adjective Clause with Relative Pronoun as Object: in this regard objective form of the Relative pronoun (Whom, which, that) is used before the Adjective clause and used as an object of Adjective clause.
ü The boy whom we talked was a scholar.
ü This is the book I bought last year.
iii) Adjective Clause with Relative Pronoun as an object of a preposition: in this regard, relative pronoun works as an object of a preposition.
A preposition and the object sit before the subject of the adjective clause.
ü This is the man about whom he told us.
ü The flat in which they live is very gorgeous.
Note: in many cases, a relative pronoun is omitted and a preposition is used after a verb.
ü The flat they live in is very gorgeous.
ü This is the man he told us about.
iv) Adjective Clause with Relative Pronoun as possessive: in this regard, the possessive form of the relative pronoun (whose/which) is used
The possessive form of the relative pronoun is used after noun antecedent.
ü The boy whose pen was lost was poor.
ü The man whose pocket was picked fell into trouble.
ü The building whose roof was repaired is not suitable to live in.
ü He has dos whose color is brown.
v) Adjective clause with a relative adverb: Relative adverbs such as where, why, when, as, how are used in the adjective clause.
These relative adverbs are used at the beginning of a relative clause.
Like a relative pronoun, a relative adverb modifies a noun antecedent.
ü I know the time when he will come.
vi) Adjective clause with ‘But’ as Relative Pronoun.
ü There is nobody but wants to live long.
ü There is none but wants to be rich.
vii) Adjective clause with “The same—as /that”:
ü This is the same book as (or, that) I lost.
viii) Adjective clause with “Such—as”:
ü We want such boys as being honest.
Adverbial Clause
Adverbial clause behaves like an adverb. An adverb modifies all the parts of speech except nouns and pronouns. There are different kinds of adverbs. The most important ones are shown below:
(a) Adverbial clauses of time (b) Adverbial clauses of place (c) Adverbial clauses of reason (d) Adverbial clauses of manner (e) Adverbial clauses of condition (f) Adverbial clauses of degree (g) Adverbial clauses of result/consequence (h) Adverbial clauses of purpose (i) Adverbial clauses of concession
a. Adverbial Clause of time: it always indicates the time of action of the principal clause. It starts with following conjunctions of time: as, as soon as, before, after, hardly ----- when, no sooner ---- than, since, the sooner, till, until, when, where, while, scarcely ----when, etc.
Adverbial clauses of time can sit before or after the principal clause. We need to put a comma if the adverbial clause of time is used before the principal clause. On the other hand, we do not need to put a comma if it is used after the principal clause.
ü My friend met me when I was at college.
ü I go to HussainSagor Lake whenever I go to Hyderabad.
ü As soon as he finished the work, everyone started appreciating him.
ü While I was writing a story, I came across a realization.
Note: (i) When the time clause of a complex sentence mentions future time, the future tense is used in the principal clause but future tense is not used in the subordinate clause.
Incorrect: Rohit will talk to me as soon as he will return.
Correct: Rohit will talk to me as soon as he returns.
Note: (ii) In adverbial clauses of time, we use the present perfect tense instead of the future perfect tense.
Incorrect: I will return your book on Friday when I will have read it.
Correct: I will return your book on Monday when I have read it.
b. Adverbial clauses of place: it indicates the action of a place of the principal clause. Adverbial clause of the place starts with where, wherever, whence, etc.
Adverbial clauses of place can sit before or after the principal clause. We need to put a comma if the adverbial clause of place is used before the principal clause. On the other hand, we do not need to put a comma if it is used after the principal clause.
ü I want to go wherever I like.
ü Go quickly whence you come
Note: whence indicate definite place and wherever indicates uncertain place.
c. Adverbial clause of reason: Whether the action of the principal clause takes place or not is reasoned by the adverbial clause of reason.
It starts with as, since, for, because, and that.
Adverbial clauses of reason can sit before or after the principal clause. We need to put a comma if the adverbial clause of the reason is used before the principal clause. On the other hand, we do not need to put a comma if it is used after the principal clause.
ü He could not go to college as he was ill.
Here, the adverbial clause shows the reason for not taking place of the action of the principal clause.
ü I like him because he is honest.
ü He got poor marks for he was not studious and serious.
ü Since I am strong, I can do this heavy work easily.
Note: we can use seeing that instead of since and as to mean because of the fact.
ü The hall is already full, the meeting may begin now.
ü Seeing that the hall is already full, the meeting may begin now.
We can convert the adverbial clause of reason into two principal clauses by adding so.
ü Since it was too dark to go on, we camped there.
ü It was too dark to go on, so we camped there.
d. Adverbial clause of manner: it indicates how the action of the principal clause takes place.
This clause starts with as, like, how, however.
In maximum cases, above mentioned subordinating conjunctions are used after the principal clause.
ü Do as you like.
ü You can work like your father does.
ü Tell us how you escaped.
ü Yu can travel however you like.
e. Adverbial clauses of condition: this clause expresses a condition.
It starts with even, if, whether, unless, but, for, otherwise, provided, support, etc.
Adverbial clauses of the condition can sit before or after the principal clause. We need to put a comma if the adverbial clause of the condition is used before the principal clause. On the other hand, we do not need to put a comma if it is used after the principal clause.
This type of clause can be divided into five types
i) Three basic types
ii) A natural type
iii) A mixed group
Positive, Comparative & Superlative Degree