What is a clause?

• You use clauses to build sentences.
• Each sentence has at least one clause.
• A clause is a sequence of words that has a subject (S) and a verb (V). It can be:

a. independent, standing alone as a complete sentence.

He (S) is (V) an athlete. (independent clause = sentence)

b. dependent, being part of a longer sentence but not having complete meaning on its own.

He (S) is (V) an athlete (independent clause) who (S) has won (V) many races. (dependent clause)