Clauses

• Biber, D., Conrad, S. & Leech, G. (2002). Longman Student

Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Capítulo 3 Y 8). Essex,
England: Pearson Education Limited.
• Greenbaum, S. & Nelson, G. (2002). An Introduction to English
Grammar - 2nd Edition (Capítulo 1 Y 6). Essex, England: Pearson
Education Limited.
 Clauses can be defined as
sentences within sentences.

A clause forms a sentence

or part of a sentence and
often functions as a noun,
adjective, or adverb.
• A clause is a key unit in syntax; it can
occur independently.

• They can stand alone as an expression of

‘complete thought’ (= a complete
description of an event or state of affairs).

• The verb phrase is the key element in a

clause.
Some sentences consist of a single
clause (simple sentences).

Examples:
a)Did you meet Paul yesterday?
b)The girl smiled sweetly.
c)Sam did not break that ancient
vase.
Some sentences consist of more than one
clause (multiple sentences: compound,
complex and compound-complex sentences).

Examples:
a)After the boss had left the office, the party started.
b)The girl smiled sweetly and the boy blushed.
c)They went to the party but they did not dance
because they were tired.
Clauses can be classified into:
Independent: a part of a sentence that
can stand alone and make sense by
itself.
[Richard plays tennis] and [Mike
plays basketball].
It contains a subject and a verb in a
single sentence. 
Dependent: a group of words that
has a subject and a verb, but cannot
stand alone or make sense by itself.

Peter said [that it was useless to

ask].
It needs to be attached to an independent
clause in order to make sense. 
Analysed by structural types,
clauses are classified into:

Finite.
Non-finite.
Verbless.
FINITE CLAUSES contain a finite
verb phrase.

[John has visited New York].

They did not take holidays [because

John is working].
NON-FINITE CLAUSES contain a non-
finite verb phrase.
[Having seen the pictures], she
walked back home.
[For John to carry the parcel] was
very tiresome.
VERBLESS CLAUSES contain no
verb element.
[Although always helpful], he can be
annoying at times.

John, [then in New York], was ready

to start a new life.
 FINITE CLAUSES
The following are the main types of finite
clauses:
Noun (or complement)
clauses.
Adverbial clauses.
Relative clauses.
Comparative clauses.
NOUN CLAUSES
Their syntactic role is comparable
to the role of a noun phrase.
They are introduced by that or a
wh-word.
[That he was lying] became
clear.
[What he said after the meeting]
shocked everyone.
ADVERBIAL CLAUSES
They are used as adverbials in the
main clause.
They are normally introduced by
a subordinator (if, before, when,
although, etc.).
[If you read carefully], you will
understand the story.
RELATIVE CLAUSES

They are post modifiers in a

NP.
Mark Thompson, [who works in a big
company], has bought a new house.
COMPARATIVE CLAUSES
They are complements in an AP
or an AdvP, with a gradable word
as head.

Paul discovered that she was not [as nice

as she pretended to be].
PERIPHERAL CLAUSES
Reporting clauses:
‘Please don’t leave me,’ [she begged].

Tag clauses:
They went to the party, [didn’t they]?
 NON-FINITE CLAUSES
The four classes of non-finite verb phrase
serve to distinguish the four classes of
non-finite clauses:
Infinitive with to.
Infinitive without to.
-ing participle.
-ed participle.
INFINITIVE WITH TO
Without subject:
The best thing would be [to tell
everybody].
With subject:
The best thing would be [for you to
tell everybody].
INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO
Without subject:
All I did was [hit him on the head].

With subject:
Rather than [John do it], I’d prefer to
give the job to Mary.
-ING Participle
Without subject:
[Leaving the room], he tripped over
the mat.
With subject:
[Her aunt having left the room], he
declared his passionate love for
Celia.
-ED Participle
Without subject:
[Covered with confusion], I left the
room.
With subject:
[The job finished], we left the room
and went home.
 VERBLESS CLAUSES
With these clauses we can infer ellipsis of
the verb be:
Dozens of people were stranded, [many
of them children]. (many of them being
children)
 To sum up….
 Definition of clause.

 Simple and multiple sentences.

 Dependent and independent clauses

 Finite and non-finite clauses (subtypes)