Independent and subordinate clauses worksheet with answers pdf

When you have a group of words that form their own sentence, all by themselves, we call this an independent clause. That means that, first and foremost, it is a complete thought and that it has both a subject and a verb. If it lacks a complete thought, but still has a subject and a verb we call it a dependent clause. There are a series of words which kind of gives away that a clause is dependent. These words are called dependent markers. These words will start the clause itself. If you see a sentence begin with words such as (after, because, even though, if, once, rather than, that, until, or while) this indicates the sentence requires an independent clause be attached to it. There are also independent marker words that indicate an independent clause. Just like dependent markers their words will be at the beginning of the sentence. Some common independent marker words include also, furthermore, however, nevertheless, therefore. Some sentences will have two independent clauses, when this happens a semicolon is needed before the independent marker word.

As an English teacher motivated by giving students the tools they need to become highly literate, you understand the importance dependent and independent clauses within different sentences. These worksheets from Easy Teacher encourage students to write multiple sentences at one time that use both types of clauses. By defining how dependent clauses typically connect with one or more independent clauses to form sentences, you have the right grammar tool to make your kids literary stars long before they reach high school.

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