DEPENDENT CLAUSE

Intended to Fulfill One of Requirements

For the English Lesson

Lecturer: M. Ridhwan, S.Pd., M.Ed.

By:
GROUP 1
CLASS III D

FATMAWATI
Reg. No. 12091607830

JONI ISKANDAR
Reg. No. 12091607837

VIVI WULANDARI
Reg. No. 12091607853

ISLAMIC STUDY PROGRAM

STAI AULIAURRASYIDIN
TEMBILAHAN
2017
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background
If you are a really ambitious learner of English, the sentence that you probably
most dread to hear from a stranger is "Your English is very good!" This may sound
like a compliment, but in fact it means that the person you are talking to has realized
that English is not your first language. It is possible that your grammar, pronunciation
and intonation are perfect, but you still don't sound like a native speaker. This may be
because you don't use the many of the idioms and phrasal verbs that are so prevalent
in spoken English, or because you don't know how to use dependent clauses.
A dependent clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. It does not express
a complete thought so it is not a sentence and can’t stand alone. These clauses
include adverb clauses, adjective clauses and noun clauses.

B. Formulation of Problems
1. What are definitions of dependent clause?
2. What are noun clauses?
3. What are adjective clauses?
4. What are adverbial clauses?
5. What are the differentiations among those three clauses?

C. Objective of Problem
1. To understand definition of dependent clause.
2. To know what noun clauses are.
3. To know what adjective clauses are.
4. To know what adverbial clauses are.
5. To know the differentiations among those three clauses

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 CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

A. Definition
A clause is any structure that contains its own verb. A clause that cand stand on its
own is called an independent clause. A dependent clause or subordinate clause is one
that can not stand alone as gramaticcally entity. 1 It does not express a complete
thought so it is not a sentence and can’t stand alone. These clauses include Noun
clauses, adjective clause and adverbial clause. A dependent clause at the beginning of
a sentence is usually followed by a comma. However, when a dependent clause
appears at the end of a sentence, it's not usually set off with a comma.2

B. Noun clauses, adjective clause and adverbial clause.

1. Noun Clause
A noun is used as a subject or an object. A noun clause is used as a subject or an
object. In other words, a noun clause is used in the same ways as a noun.3
Examples:
a. His story was interesting
b. What he said was interesting
c. I heard his story
d. I heard what he said
Explanations:
In (a): story is noun. It is used as the subject of the sentence.
In (b): what he said is a noun clause. It is used as the subject of the sentence.
The noun clause has its own subject (he) and verb (said).
In (c): story is a noun. It is used as the object of the verb heard.
In (d): what he said is a noun clause. It is used as the object of the verb heard

1
Lynn M. Berk, English Syntax (From Word Discourse ), (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) , p.217
2
Richard Nordquist, “Dependent Clause Definition and Examples” from https://www.thoughtco.com/dependent-clause-
grammar-1690437 retrieved September 21, 2017
3
Betty Schramfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar (Second Edition), (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1989) ,
p. 263

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 a. Noun clauses which begin with a question word
Examples:
Question Noun Clause
1) Where does she live? 1) I don’t know where she lives.
2) What did he say? 2) I couldn’t hear what he said.
3) When do they arrive? 3) Do you know when they arrive?
4) Who lives there? 1) I don’t know who lives there.
5) What happened? 2) Please tell me what happened.
6) What did she say? 1) What she said surprised me.
7) What should they do? 2) What they should do is
obvious.4

b. Noun clauses which begin with whether or if

Examples:
1) I don’t know whether she will come.
I don’t know if she will come.
2) I wonder whether he needs help.
I wonder if he needs help.
3) I wonder whether or not she will come
4) I wonder if she will come or not.
5) Whether she come or not is unimportant for me.5
c. Noun clauses which begin with that
1) I think thatbhe is a good actor.
2) We know that the world is round.
3) That she doesn’t understand spoken English is obvious.
4) That the world is round is a fact.6

2. Adjective Clause
An adjective clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun. It describes,
identifies, or gives further information about a noun.7

4
Ibid p.264
5
Ibid p.268
6
Ibid p.270
7
Ibid p.238

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 a. Using Subject Pronouns: who, which, that
examples:
1) I thanked the woman who helped me.
2) I thanked woman that helped me.
3) The book which is on the table is mine.
4) The book that is on the table is mine.
In 1): I thanked the woman = an independent clause
Who helped me = an adjective clause
Note: (1) and (2) have the same meaning
(3) and (4) have the same meaning8

b. Using object pronouns: whom, which, that

Examples:
1) The man whom I saw was Mr. Jones
The man that I saw was Mr. Jones
2) The movie which we saw last night wasn’t very good
3) The movie that we saw last night wasn’t very good.9

c. Using Whose
Whose is used to show possesion. It carries the same meaning as other
possesive pronouns use as adjectives.10
Examples:
1) I know the man whose bycycle was stolen..
2) The students whose composition I read writes well.

d. Using where
Where is used in adjective clause to modfy a place (city, country, room, house,
etc.)11
Examples:
1) The building where he lives is very old
2) The city where we spent our vacation was beautiful
8
Ibid
9
Ibid p.239
10
Ibid p.240
11
Ibid p.243

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 e. Using when
When is uses in an adjective clause to modify a noun of time (year, day, time,
country, etc.)12
Examples:
1) I’ll never forget the day when I met you.
2) 1960 is the year when the revolution took place.

3. Adverbial Clause
In an adverbial clause, a special introductory word is added to a full subject-
predicate structure. This introductory word requires the clause to be attched to
another full predication, the main clause.13
Most type of adverbial clause are considered as the modifying the verb of the
main clause, some more loosely than others. A few types such as clause of time or
clause of place, are sometimes interpreted as modifiers of the entire sentence.14
a. Adverb clauses of condition
Adverb clauses of condition present posible conditions. The main
clause expresess results. 15

Words that introduce adverb clauses of condition

If in case (that) only if
Wheter or not in the event (that) providing that
Even if unless provided that

1) Statements with real condition

In most statements with real condition, there are only two possible
ressult, if the condition is realized, the result is stated in the main clause will
take place; if the condition is not realized, the result will not take place.16

12
Ibid
13
Marcella Frank, Modern English ( a Practical Reference Guide). (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1972), p. 234
14 Ibid
15 Betty Schramfer Azar, op.cit p. 330

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 Statements with real condition may express various kinds of conditional
meaning.17
a) Eventually. If, in the even (that), in case
 Possibility
The realization of the condition is open to chance; the condition may or
may not be realized.
Examples:
 I’ll be at my uncle’s house in case you should need to reach me.
 In the event that you should need to reach me, I’ll be at my uncle’s
house.
 Necessity
The use of such condition is common in mathematics and logic.
Examples:
 If a figure is square, it has four right angles
 If this creature is a man, he is mortal
 If it rains, the streets get wet
b) Provisionality. If, provided (that), on condition that, only if, as long as
The condition is a stipulation, a requirement, or a demand that expect to
be met
 You will have no trouble with these plants provided that you water
them regularly
 The striker will go back to work only if they get the raise they are
asking for
 As long as they are back in the domitory by midnight, students may
go wherever they like
c) Supposition. If, suppose (that), supposing (that).
 Suppose that you are elected. What will you do for constituents?
 Suppose that your house burns down, do you have enough insurance
to cover such a loss

16
Marcella Frank, Op.cit, p. 265
17
Ibid

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 d) Whether or not, even if
Whether or not and even if expresse the idea that neither this condition nor
that condition matters; the result will be the same.18
 I’m going to go swimming tomorrow whether or not it is cold
 Even if the wheter is cold, I’m going to go swimming

2) Untrue (contrary to fact) in the present or future

Examples:
a) If I taught this class, I wouldn’t give test
b) If he were here right now, he would help us
c) If I have enough apples, I will bake an apple pie this afternoon19

3) Untrue (contrary to fact) in the past

Examples:
a) If you had told me about the problem, I would have helped you.
b) If they had studied, they would have passed the exam.
c) If I hadn’t slipped on the ice, I wouldn’t have broken my arm.20

b. Adverb clauses of contrast

Contrast clauses or adverbial clauses of concession are used to express ideas or
actions that are not expected (contradictive with the fact).21
Examples:
1) As the time you were sleeping, we were working hard
2) Farida wanted to stop, whereas I wanted to go on
3) Although it is late, we’ll stay a little longer
4) He is very friendly, even if he is a clever student

c. Using adverb clauses to show time relationships

Examples:

18
Betty Schramfer Azar, Op.cit, p. 331
19
Ibid p.348
20
Ibid p.349
21
Fuad Masud, Essential of English Grammar (A Practical Guide), (Yogyakarta: BPEE, 1996 , p. 213

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 1) After she graduates, she will get a job
2) I will leaves before he comes
3) When I arrived, he was talking on the phone
4) We stayed there until we finished our work22
d. Using adverb clauses to show cause and effect relationships
Examples:
1) Because he was sleepy, he went to bed
2) Since he’s not interested in classical music, he decided not go to the
concert.
3) Now that the semester is finished, I’m going to rest a few days and then
take a trip.23

4. Differentiation Among Those Three Clauses

a. The adjective clause is used to modify a noun or a pronoun. It will begin with a
relative pronoun (who, whose, whom, which, and that) or a subordinate
conjunction (when and where).
b. A noun clause can be defined as a dependent clause that acts as a noun or
pronoun
c. An adverb clause is a dependent clause that modifies a verb, adjective or
another adverb. It usually modifies the verb.24

22
Betty Schramfer Azar, op.cit p. 298
23
Ibid p.303
24
Johanson , “Daily Grammar” from http://www.dailygrammar.com/lesson-276-clause-review.htm retrieved
September 21, 2017

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 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSSION

A dependent clause or subordinate clause is one that can not stand alone as
gramaticcally entity. It does not express a complete thought so it is not a sentence and
can’t stand alone. These clauses include Noun clauses, adjective clause and adverbial
clause. A noun is used as a subject or an object. A noun clause is used as a subject or
an object. In other words, a noun clause is used in the same ways as a noun. An
adjective clause is a dependent clause that modifies a noun. It describes, identifies, or
gives further information about a noun. An adverb clause is a dependent clause that
modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb. It usually modifies the verb. Main
differences among those three clauses are The adjective clause is used to modify a
noun or a pronoun. It will begin with a relative pronoun. A noun clause can be defined
as a dependent clause that acts as a noun or pronoun. An adverb clause is a dependent
clause that modifies a verb, adjective or another adverb.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Azar, Betty Schramfer. 1989. Understanding and Using English Grammar (Second Edition).
New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Berk, Lyn M. 1999. English Syntax (From Word Discourse). New York: Oxford University
Press
Frank, Marcella. 1972. Modern English ( a Practical Reference Guide). New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
Johanson. 2004. Daily Grammar. From http://www.dailygrammar.com/lesson-276-clause-
review.htm retrieved September 21, 2017

Masud, Fuad. 1996. Essential of English Grammar (A Practical Guide).Yogyakarta: BPEE.

Nordquist, Richard. 2017. Dependent Clause Definition and ExampleTop of Form. From
https://www.thoughtco.com/dependent-clause-grammar-1690437. Retrieved September
21, 2017

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