2015-07-17 Writing: clauses and fragments

Greg Malivuk
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http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk
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Remember that sessions are Tuesday to Monday, so you should keep papers I give you until at least the following Monday.
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handout p. 86 - independent and dependent clauses
A clause is a group of words with a subject and verb.
(A phrase is a group of words that function as a single unit, but isn’t a clause.)

Independent clauses can be complete sentences by themselves:
I will bring an umbrella tomorrow.

Dependent clauses cannot be by themselves, because they depend on another clause:
If it rains

-> If it rains, I will bring an umbrella tomorrow. / I will bring an umbrella tomorrow if it rains.
(A sentence with at least one dependent clause is a complex sentence.)
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Dependent clauses always begin with a subordinator that tells you it’s dependent.
(if, when, until, after, unless, although, while, because, etc.)

p. 87 - decide if each clause is dependent or independent, and circle the subordinator or add a period
3 I
4 I
5 D - When
6 I
7 D - After
8 I
9 I
10 D - When
11 I
12 D - as soon as
13 I

*I watch TV in the evenings. After I finish my homework. I make dinner. (WRONG)
I watch TV in the evenings after I finish my homework. (Then) I make dinner. (okay)
I watch TV in the evenings. After I finish my homework, I make dinner. (okay)
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time subordinators:
when, after, before, as soon as, until, at the same time as, while

(“time phrases” are not clauses, and do not include subordinators)
(One day later, he felt much better. nowadays, Monday, in the morning, every weekend, etc.)
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(run-on sentences are sentences that continue for too long)
Fragments are too short to be complete sentences.
Most sentence fragments are dependent clauses without an independent clause.
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Homework: p. 91 practice 10 - decide if each one is a fragment or a complete sentence (F or S)
(If you were absent on Thursday, you also need to write a paragraph with instructions to complete a task.)