Using Dependent Clauses

Combining Clauses Ways to combine independent clauses: comma coordinating Conj. (FANBOYS): The man jumped inside his car, but he found a killer in his back seat. semicolon: The man jumped inside his car; he found a killer in his back seat.

Dependent Clauses Dep. clauses cannot stand alone as sentences Subordinating conjunctions He found a killer in his back seat when the man jumped inside his car. These two clauses are combined using a subordinating conjunction. When is now part of the second clause, taking it from independent to dependent.

Subordinating Conj. Subordinating conj. create dep. clauses A: Although, After, As W: When, While, Whereas U: Unless, Until B: Because, Before I: If S: Since Since I got home late, I didn’t do my homework.

Complex Sentences We call sentences that have ONE independent clause connected to AT LEAST ONE dependent clause complex. Punctuation: When the subordinating conj. comes at the beginning of the sentence, use a comma after the dependent clause. You will usually not need a comma when the sub. conj. is in mid-sentence.

Practice Identify the subordinating conj. and the dependent clauses: After the loss the other night, the Blazers have dug themselves into a hole. He went berserk when he found out his boyfriend cheated on him. While running late this morning, I missed breakfast.

Practice Combine any combination of the following, using a subordinating conjunction to create a complex sentence. She arrived late to school. Her car broke down. She only had $27 in the bank. She had to call her dad. She had to buy a new car.

Assignment Create a sentence for each one of your vocabulary words, 10 total. Begin the first five sentences with a dependent clause followed by a comma. Begin the second five sentences with an independent clause followed by a dependent clause without a comma.