Advanced English Grammar: Dependent Clauses

Hi. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam, and today's lesson is a special lesson. It's

an introduction to dependent clauses. Now, before I begin, I want you to understand I'm

only going to look at the functions of the dependent clauses today. I'm not going to

look at how they're built, how to structure them, the conjunctions they use, the relative

pronouns they use; only about the functions, because it's very important that you are able

to recognize the different types of dependent clauses. Once you recognize the function of

a clause, you know how it's built, you know what it's doing in the sentence, you can understand

the sentence better, you can write better sentences.

So, dependent clauses, what are they? First of all, they're also called subordinate clauses.

You might see "subordinate", you might see "dependent". They're very different from the

independent clause. The independent clause is a clause that can stand by itself, and

has a complete meaning. It doesn't have... It doesn't need any other information. A "clause"

is a collection of words-sorry-that must include a subject and a verb.

Okay, we have basically four types. Technically, we think of three types, but there's one extra

one that we're going to look at today. We have "noun clauses", we have "adjective clauses"-adjective

clauses" are also called "relative clauses"-we have "adverb clauses", and we have something

called a "that clause", which is really none of these three. It's closest to the noun clause,

but it doesn't function like a noun clause.

We're going to start with the noun clause, then. What is a noun clause? First of all,

a noun clause has a specific function in a sentence. It is used, just like it's called,

it's used like a noun. You think of a noun clause as you would a noun, except that it's

a clause. There's a subject, there's a verb, there's other pieces to it. We can use it

as a subject of a sentence, we can use it as a subject of an otherwise independent clause.

"What you do in your free time is your business." So, look... Let's, first of all, look at all

the verbs, here. We have "do" and we have "is". We have two verbs. The subject for "you"...

For "do" is "you". Okay? What is the subject for "is"? Well, if you look around, it's not

"time", it's not "your", and it's not "you" because "you" is already being used. So the

whole thing: "What you do in your free time", this is the subject, this is the verb, this

is the subject complement. Okay?

Now, very rarely do people actually use noun clauses as subjects, especially in writing.

What they might say is "it": "It is your business what you do in your free time." Okay? We call

this a "preparatory 'it'". It means we prepare you for the subject that's going to come later.

Why do we do this? Because it's more... It's a bit awkward to do it like this. It's more

convenient to begin with "it", get to the verb, and get to whatever comes after the

verb, and put the subject later because it's long. Okay? "What you do in your free time",

subject, "is", verb.

Now, we can use it as a subject complement. A subject complement looks like an object,

but it is not. It comes after a "be" verb. It comes after a "be" verb, okay? And it completes

the meaning of the subject. So, Tom, what do we know about Tom? "Tom isn't"... Isn't

what? He "isn't what you would call friendly." This is the noun clause. There is the subject,

there is the verb. These, by the way, these are just called the pronouns or the conjunctions,

whatever you want to call them. They begin the clause. Now, as we know from other lessons,

"is" works like an equal sign. Tom, not really friendly. That's basically what this sentence

means. This is the subject complement to Tom, noun clause. Notice the conjunction "what"

can only be used in a noun clause; not in an adjective clause, not in an adverb clause.

Okay, we can also use a noun clause as the object of the sentence. "She said she was sorry."

So, what do we have, here? We have the subject, we have the verb. She said what?

What did she say? That "she was sorry". Subject, verb. Okay? I put "that" in brackets because

"that" is a conjunction that we can often take out. You have the subject, here; we don't

need this. This is only used to introduce the noun clause. We can take it out, we can

leave it in. Up to you. Some sentences, it is necessary to keep "that" in the sentence

if it's not clear without it. If it's very clear without it, take it out. So, she said what?

This is the object, this whole thing. Actually, I'll put it here. Object to "said".

This is the subject complement to "Tom", this is the subject to "is".

We can also use noun clauses as objects of prepositions. "I don't worry." is a complete

sentence. This is an independent clause; I don't actually need anymore. But I want to

tell you specifically what I don't worry about. So I use the proposition "about", and now,

"what others think", again, you have the conjunction, you have your subject, you have your verb.

This whole thing is now the object of "about". About what? "What others think". The whole

thing, this whole thing: "about what others think", this whole thing is a complement to

this sentence. Okay.

Now, we can also have an object of a verb that is not the main verb.

"I really want to believe." this is a complete sentence.

I have here a subject, verb, object. I don't

need anything else, but I want to add some more information. I want to add a complement.

So: "that tomorrow will be better", I have my subject, I have my verb. This whole thing

is a noun clause, acting as an object to "believe". But "believe" is not the main verb of the

sentence. It is just... It is part of the object, the infinitive object. And I have...

But it's a transitive verb, means it can take an object, so I give it an object. This object

now acts as a complement to the word, to the verb "believe". So here is basically the noun

clauses that you will find in your readings, the noun clauses that you should use in your

writing, and we're going to move now to the adjective clauses.

Okay, so now we're going to look at the adjective clauses or the relative clauses. Just like

the nouns, the adjective clauses work as adjectives. They are modifying a noun, usually one that

comes before it. Okay? We're going to look at three types. It's not really three types;

there's only two types, but one of them is a little bit different, so we look at it separately.

You have identifying adjective clauses in which case you do not use commas. What does

"identifying" mean? It means that you're pointing to this noun and you're telling me what it

is, or who it is, or where it is. It has to be specific, because otherwise, I don't know.

The noun is too general. You need to identify it so there's no commas.

On the other hand, we have the non-identifying one. If you're giving me a noun and I know

what the noun is, maybe it's a name, maybe you've already mentioned it in a previous

sentence, so I already know who, what, where this noun is. So, now, anything that you tell

me about it is extra information. You're still modifying the same thing, but you're giving

me extra. In this case, you're going to use commas before and after the adjective clause.

If the adjective clause ends the sentence, then of course, there's a period, not a second comma.

And we have situational adjective clauses. Now, technically, they work the same way except

that they're not modifying a noun. They're modifying an entire phrase or clause that

came before it. We're going to look at examples.

So number one, identifying. "The girl who sold me the car said it was hers." Now, if

you ask: Who is this girl? I don't know. Lots of girls out there, so you need to tell me

specifically which girl we're talking about. So that's why we have "who sold me the car".

Oh, sorry.

This is an adjective clause. We have the subject. So in adjective clauses,

this can also be the subject and the verb. Okay? It is telling you something about the

girl. It is telling you specifically which girl you're talking about. So now I know.

In the next sentence, when you say "the girl", if you're still talking about the same girl

and the same situation, in the next sentence, you don't need to give me an identifying clause.

In the next sentence, if you want to give me more information about her, then you're

giving me a non-identifying, because here, you've identified her. Next sentence, I know

who she is; it's all extra information. Okay? Just a little bit of a refresher: "said" is

a verb. What is this? This is a little bit of review. It's a noun clause, of course.

It's an object to "said". We took the "that" out.

Okay, let's look at the non-identifying clause. "My high school English teacher". Now, we're

talking about my high school, so I went to one high school and we're talking about one

specific class, and therefore, one specific teacher. So she's already been identified.

"My high school English teacher", that's a very specific person. So I don't need to identify

her anymore; I've already identified her. So, now, I'm going to give you some information

about her, but it's all extra. If I take this clause out... It actually starts here. Oh.

This is the adjective clause. If I take it out, my sentence is still okay.

"My high school English teacher sends me a postcard." No problem.

Good sentence. Complete idea. I know who she

is, I know what she did. No problem. So this is extra, and so I put it between commas.

Okay? "Who is retired", so again, I have my subject and my verb, and "who now lives in

Florida". Because of the "and", I don't need to say this again. This just carries over

to here. ", who is retired and who now lives in Florida, sends me a postcard". Between

commas. Just extra information. Okay? But it is still telling you something about my

English teacher. It is still giving you information about the noun that came before it. Just like

this one tells you something about the noun that came before it.

Now, although it's not very common, you could have an adjective clause that doesn't modify

the noun right before it. "I bought myself a motorcycle for my birthday." This is an

independent clause. It is fine. You don't need any more information. I could put a period,

here, and be finished with this sentence. But I want to give you some more information,

I want to give you my wife's reaction. Okay? "Which made my wife crazy". Now, you're thinking

"which", are we talking about birthday? My birthday made her crazy? That doesn't make

sense. She's my wife, she loves me, she loves my birthday, she wants to buy me a cake, she

wants to make me a cake, but that's not what made her crazy. What made her crazy is that

I bought myself a motorcycle. This situation, that's why I called it a situational, this

situation is what I am describing. This situation made my wife crazy. So, we don't modify the

last noun. We actually modify the whole situation and we use a comma. We end the sentence with

it, so we use a period. If it was in the middle of a sentence, of course, comma and continue

the sentence. So there you have three adjective clauses.

And again, just like with the noun clauses, sometimes you can take out the relative pronoun.

In this case, you can't because it is also the subject. But we will do... I will do another

video lesson about how to construct all the different types of adjective clauses, noun

clauses, etc. The only thing I will mention right away today: We use "that" with identifying

adjective clauses. So if you're identifying a thing, use "that". If you're modifying...

If you're describing a noun that's a thing, but it's non-identifying, use "which". "That",

no comma; "which", with comma. Okay? Identifying, non-identifying, in case you're wondering:

"What's the difference between 'that' and 'which'?" Now, some teachers will tell you

they're both the same, you can use either one. You can. If you're going to write an

IELTS test, a TOEFL test, an SAT test, a GRE/GMAT test, not okay. Identifying, non-identifying

is the correct distinction between these two. Okay, let's look at adverb clauses now.

Okay, so now we're going to look at adverb clauses. And just like noun clauses and adjective

clauses, what does an adverb clause do or how does it work? It works like an adverb.

And what does it do? It shows our relationship. Now, what is the relationship between? It's

very important to remember that a dependent clause is always joined to an independent

clause or to other dependent clauses; it never stands by itself. Right? So an adverb clause

has a relationship with whatever clause it is attached to, usually the independent clause.

What kind of relationships? Well, here are some examples: there's a contrast, there's

condition, there's reason, there's time. Okay? There are others as well, but we're just going

to look at a few just to get an example of the types of relationships you might have.

So, adverb clauses, of course, have their own conjunction. They're not "what", they're

not "that". We don't use "what", we don't use "that". You could use "who", you could

use "which". No, we can't use "which", that's for a noun or an adjective. "Although", "if",

"because", "when". Contrast, condition, reason, time. Okay? So we can use all of these conjunctions

to show all kinds of relationships.

"Although he practiced every day", here's your adverb clause, "he didn't win", here's

your independent clause. This is a sentence: "He didn't win." But the contrast, though:

"Although he practiced every day". So, what's the...? What's the relationship of contrast?

It means opposite ideas. Right? Or opposite expectations. You think, he practiced every

day, he should be very good, he should win the contest. But he didn't win. So this is

like "but", although it creates a dependent clause.

"If you help me pass this test, I'll buy you lunch." On what condition will I buy you lunch?

On the condition that you help me pass this test. So if you help me, I will buy. Okay?

"I lent her my notes"-why?-"because she missed too many classes". So I'm showing you the

reason that I lent her my notes. Independent clause, adverb clause, showing reason.

Now, this sentence I made a little bit more complicated. I put in a few dependent clauses,

because you remember at the beginning I said there's a fourth type, "that" clause? We're

going to see that now, too. "When my mother, who was only 18 when she had me, told me I

should wait until I got older to marry Lucy, I knew she was really happy I met the right

person." Wow, that's a very complex sentence, you're thinking that, right? Too many things

going on. Well, not so complicated. "When my mother", okay? Where's the main verb?

"Told me", "When my mother told me", that's your first adverb clause.

Here, we have a comma and a comma. Here, we have an adjective clause.

Here, we have an adverb clause. An adjective

clause is telling me something about my mother, but commas tell me it's not identifying. I

only have one mother. She's already been identified, she's my mother. Not your mother, not his

mother, not her mother. My mother. There's only one. So this is non-identifying adjective

clause. "When my mother told me", told me what? "I should wait",

noun clause, object to "told". "Told me I should wait until I got older".

Until when should I wait? Here,

we have another adverb clause, with time. Right? This relationship of this clause is

to this clause. I should wait until a specific time. This is a noun clause. "To marry Lucy",

this is just a complement. "I knew she was really happy", what's the relationship? There's

no conjunction. This is a complete idea by itself. This sentence can stand by itself.

This is your independent clause. Now, remember the "that" clause that I told you about? So,

technically, there is a "that" here. But I took it out because I don't need it, I have

a subject. Remember "that"... We generally use "that" just to introduce a clause. It

doesn't have any particular function other than to introduce the clause.

So "I met the right person".

Now, is this modifying, "happy" or "she" or anything? No. So it's not an adjective

clause. There's no relationship of any kind, here, so it's not an adverb clause. There's

no noun and there's no situation, so it's not a noun clause.

Basically, this is called a complement.

Complement.

It is just completing this idea. It's just a "that clause" we call

it. It doesn't really have any type of a noun, adjective, adverb, but it just gives you a

little bit of extra information to complete the idea. "She was really happy that I met somebody",

this completes the idea of basically happiness. So there you go, adverb clause,

adjective clause, noun clause, adverb clause, independent clause, and a "that" clause all

in one sentence.

Now, why did we learn all this stuff today? Why did we have this introduction to dependent

clauses? So that when you see a sentence like this and it looks very complicated to you,

understand that all you have to do is pick out all the different clauses, find out what

is their function, what are they doing in this sentence. If you understand what they

are doing, what they are modifying, what they are explaining, what relationship they're

showing, then you know what the sentence means. When you know the independent clause, that's

your main idea. "I knew she was really happy", this is the main idea. This is the most important

piece of information. All this other stuff just gives you more information; it just modifies

the main idea. Know the function, know the type of clause, know how everything is working.

Now, if you understand all this, do keep in mind I will make other videos, as I said.

I will show you how to construct a noun clause, an adjective clause, and an adverb clause.

Okay? I will show you how to make them, I will show you how to analyze them. They come

in different structures, they can be played around with. You need to know... You need

to know all the different conjunctions; "who", "until", "when", "that", etc. But for now,

make sure you know what you're looking at, identify it, and work from there.

Now, if you want to practice this a little bit, if you want to come and look at sentences

and identify the clauses, go to www.engvid.com. There's a quiz there that I put up there.

You can practice, you can ask me questions in the comment section, and that's it.

It's all good.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and I'll see you again soon. Bye.