Simple Clauses

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Simple Clauses

• The Basic English
• Sentence Pattern

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What is a clause, anyway?

• A clause is a simple sentence
• The boy watched the girl.
• Subject verb object
• You must know clauses because otherwise you will
  not know if you have written a fragment, a
  run-on, or a sentence!
• We will study the more complex clauses later.

Is this how sentences began?
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What is an independent clause?

• An independent clause has a subject-verb
  combination
• Teachers present lessons.
• subject verb
• 2. Students listen to them.
• subject verb
• Clauses can have more than one subject and verb
• 3. Teachers and students
• subject
• talk and listen in turn.
• verb

Are sentences ending with prepositions so bad?
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What makes a clause simple?

• Which of these clauses is simple?
• Julia played the lottery.
• She hoped to win on her first try.
• Luckily, she won it without trying hard
• In fact, she won the lottery after she lost her
  job.

Is this message simple enough?
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Do simple clauses stand alone?

• She won the lottery is simple because it stands
  alone.
• On her first try and without trying hard are
  not clauses, but prepositional phrases.
• She won the lottery after she lost her job adds
  another clause.
• Its not simple but instead is complex.
• The connecting word because is the clue.

What kind of clause is this one?
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What are the subjects of verbs?

• Every sentence must have a subject.
• A subject is a noun (like man and apple) or a
  pronoun (like he and it).
• A noun names a person, place, or thing.
• A pronoun takes the place of a noun.
• Example The teacher (subject) doesnt talk
  (verb) right.

How well did she match subject to verb?
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How do we identify subjects?

• To find the subject, ask yourself
• Who or what is doing the action?
• Juan will be taking the Compass exam.
• Or who or what is being described?
• Monica knows a lot.
• Simple Subjects are single ones, like Juan and
  Maria in the sentences above.

Is the doctors statement a clear identification?
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How do we identify subjects?

• 1. Subjects are never in prepositional phrases
  In the night, we watch TV.
• 2. The subject you may not appear in a sentence
  (You) Get me my drink!
• 3. Here and there arent subjects There are
  enough computers in this room.
• 4. -ING words can be subjects Watching TV can
  be relaxing.

Then what are spelling and punctuation?
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Then what are the verbs?

• Can you find the action and stative verbs?
• The first class is often the easiest one.
• The teacher talks for most of the period.
• The students listen to understand what the
  procedures will be.
• No one seems interested in taking notes.

Is the word speak an action verb?
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Here are the types of verbs

• You found the action and stative verbs
• The first class is (stative verb) often the
  easiest one.
• The teacher talks (action verb) for most of the
  period.
• The students listen (action verb) to understand
  what the procedures will be.
• No one seems (stative verb) interested in taking
  notes then.

How does anyone conjugate a verb?
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What are two kinds of verbs?

• Action verbs describe movement
• Every morning the runners get up at 600 a.m.
• They can finish early and play cards before
  dinner.
• Linking/stative verbs that connect the subject to
  its description
• The computer feels hot after awhile.
• Our course is very informative.
• Interested students seem to learn a lot.

How active will his job be?
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What else are in many clauses?

• A simple sentence can have lots of modifiers
• The tall student sitting in the back in my
  algebra class spoke loudly.
• The basic sentence is
• The student spoke.
• The other words are modifiers or descriptive
  words.

Do people know how to use modifiers?
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How many subjects and verbs?

• A simple sentence contains only one independent
  clause, but it can have more than one subject or
  verb
• TWO SUBJECTS
• The student and his friend studied.
• TWO VERBS
• The student studied and learned a lot.

Is the problem complicated?
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Can a simple sentence be long?

• What are the sentences subject and verb?
• Is it a simple sentence or a complex one?
• The very young student sitting in the very last
  row in my second-year, advanced physics class and
  his even younger friend yawned loudly and fell
  soundly asleep.

Is existence so complicated?
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Can you identify sentence types?

• Is each sentence simple or not?
• __1. Oil exploration in the Amazon rain forest
  represents the latest, perhaps greatest, threat
  to preserving the world's largest remaining
  tropical wilderness.
• __2. A Texas-size chunk of rain forest stretching
  across Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and
  western Brazil has been approved for petroleum
  exploration and production.
• __3. In Brazil, the government recently sold off
  25 exploration concessions in remote regions of
  the western Amazon, close to areas inhabited by
  some the world's last tribes uncontacted by
  anthropologists.

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Can you identify sentence types?

• Each clause is simple, having just one main verb
• __1. Oil exploration in the Amazon rain forest
  represents the latest, perhaps greatest, threat
  to preserving the world's largest remaining
  tropical wilderness.
• __2. A Texas-size chunk of rain forest stretching
  across Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and
  western Brazil has been approved for petroleum
  exploration and production.
• __3. In Brazil, the government recently sold off
  25 exploration concessions in remote regions of
  the western Amazon, close to areas inhabited by
  some the world's last tribes uncontacted by
  anthropologists.

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What makes a sentence simple?

• A simple sentence has one subject-verb
  combination
• Everyone took the quiz last week.
• No one missed class.
• Sentences that are not simple have more than one
  subject-verb combination
• Everyone took the quiz last week because no one
  missed class.
• Although no one missed class last week, one
  student did not take the quiz.

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Can you find subjects and verbs?

• Despite the risk, we tried the key.
• There were no drinks in the box.
• How many books do you have?
• Give me the answer right away!
• Lets give full effort on this one.
• No one knows how much weve got.
• The last bottle is in the cooler.

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Here are the subjects and verbs

• Despite the risk, we tried the key.
• There were no drinks in the box.
• How many books do you have?
• You give me the answer right away!
• Let us give full effort on this one.
• No one knows how much weve got.
• The last bottle is in the cooler.

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Can you find the objects?

• Despite the risk, we tried the key.
• Lisa put a few drinks in the box.
• How many books do you have?
• Give me the answer right away!
• Lets give full effort on this one.
• No one knows how much weve got.
• Everyone saw the cat run out.

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You can find the objects

• Despite the risk, we tried the key.
• Lisa put a few drinks in the box.
• How many books do you have?
• Give me the answer right away!
• Let us give full effort on this one.
• No one knows how much weve got.
• Everyone saw the cat run out.

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Next time, compound clauses

• Compound clauses have two equal clauses
• In August, 2003, a tree limb sagged, and it
  tripped an electric line off in Ohio.
• The line breakdown began a cascading failure, so
  50 million Americans lost electric power for four
  days!

Have you heard of the big blackout?