(IELTS Reading & Writing) Essential Grammar — What Is a Clause?

hi welcome to write to the top I'm Adam in today's video I'm gonna start to look at the essential components of a sentence notably the clauses and the phrases we're gonna look at the different types of clauses the different types of phrases but today specifically we're going to begin with the clause and we're gonna look at what is a clause okay you may have heard me say many times in the past that a clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb that is a simple look at a clause today we're going to look at it a little bit more completely we're going to look at subjects and predicates and explain what these are look at some examples how they apply and how you can recognize them to improve your writing skills but also to make it help you with your reading so when you have complex sentences you know how to break them up and just put all the information in its clauses and make sure you understand what is being given to you okay so let's start with the clause types there are independent clauses and every sentence in English must have an independent clause this is the clause that basically carries the central message of the sentence and it can stand by itself as a sentence it has a complete idea everything else is basically added onto it including the independent the dependent clauses sorry or the phrases etc the modifiers so that's the second type of Clause is the dependent sometimes it's called the subordinate clause these are the noun clauses adjective clauses and adverb clauses and the complement clauses which are usually one of the other three and we're going to look at these in separate videos okay now it's important to understand that a sentence can have multiple clauses every sentence must have an independent clause but then you also have compound sentences complex sentences that have an extra independent clause or dependent clauses and any number of these okay it's also very important to understand that clauses can include other clauses inside them in their different functions okay so that's the essential introduction now before we get into a little bit more deeply what is it it's very important to understand what a sentence fragment is and what a run-on sentence is okay a sentence fragment does not have a complete independent clause something is missing either the subject is missing or the predicate is missing and we're going to look at predicates at a moment a run-on sentence has too many independent clauses it has two or three or more but it doesn't have the conjunctions that join them or the punctuation that joins them like semicolon or colon okay so what you want to avoid is having your sentence fragments and run-on sentences and especially if those of you taking a test like TOEFL IELTS or whatever this will actually cost you points if you have these types of problems in your writing okay now what is a clause let's get down to the basics so it's a group of words that includes a subject and a predicate now before I said it includes a subject and a verb a verb is called a simple predicate if all you have is a subject in a verb and you have a simple predicate and this could be a complete sentence but more often than not it is not enough a complete predicate includes the verb plus whatever other element or other elements are necessary to have to complete the meaning of the verb in relation to the subject right so these other elements could be an object or an adverb or a compliment they could be in the form of phrases modifiers dependent clauses or any combination of these so essentially you have these are you have these types of clauses okay you have your subject verb sov subject verb and that's all you need you have a complete idea and a complete sentence no problem other types of clauses are SVO where you must have an object that's the old direct or indirect and I'll talk about that in a moment subject complement and then again all of this depends on the type of you verb you're using and we're going to look at that in a moment the subject complement gives you completes the meaning of the subject or a adverb subject verb an adverb an ending to complete the meaning of the verb the adverb could be adverb words simple adverb directly or could be a phrase or could be another clause etc and then you have combinations you may have two objects you may have an object and an adverb or two adverbs or any sort of these combinations now many sentences must have these other elements in order to be complete and if you're missing something if you're missing the object or if you're missing the adverb you don't have a complete sentence and you don't have or you don't have a complete clause in that case you don't have a complete sentence and you have a sentence fragment which I mentioned before okay so let's look at all of these individually subject verb sometimes that's all you need birds fly was a very general statement of what do birds do birds flight subject verb subject birds fly verb you don't need anything else you have a complete idea okay now other sentences mites or other clauses I should say mites need a direct or indirect object now keep in mind that all clauses whether they're dependent or independent need a predicate now direct or indirect the thing to remember here is what type of verb are you using okay and this is very important when especially in writing make sure you understand the nature of your verb okay is it transitive intransitive or ambi transitive if it's transitive it must take an object to be complete if it's intransitive it doesn't need an object it may need something else like an adverb but it doesn't need an object and if something looks like an object not necessarily we'll talk about that if it's a be verb or a linking verb it doesn't take an object it takes a compliment okay now a direct object answers the questions what or whom about the verb and the verb and the object together tell you something about the subject that's the nature of the predicate an indirect object tells you to for or with whom or what okay so and all of these modify the verb modify the transitive verb so here's your basic construction subject transitive verb object direct or indirect okay pilots subject operates verb operate what mechanical airplanes so airplanes is the object of the verb operate and operate airplanes as the predicate to the subject pilots now mechanical is just a modifier for airplanes you can take it out you can leave it in that's not necessary to the predicate but the verb and the object are necessary pilots give so subject pilots give verb give what instructions to whom to the flight attendants you have a direct object you have an indirect object and the full complete predicate is give instructions to the flight attendants you need all of this information about the pilots to have the complete the complete sentence and the complete Clause as the case may be now you can add other things to the beginning or end and change the meaning but this is your subject predicate construction that is necessary to convey the message you're trying to convey ok ok so now let's look at the subject verb subject complement so when you're using B verbs or linking verbs now linking verbs are verbs that look like action verbs but there's no action involved what they are doing is they are linking they're joining the subject and the predicate or with a compliment that comes after the verb so it modifies the subject it still answers the question what or whom but about the subject not about the verb ok so pilots are obviously not afraid of heights pilots are not afraid of heights of height tells you about afraid completes the meaning of afraid it's a prepositional phrase as a compliments to you're afraid technically you say pilots are not afraid this is a complete sentence now if you want to give more detail to get more specific you add the obviously the of heights they may be afraid of spiders I don't know but they're obviously not afraid of heights because they go thousands of feet in the air now pilots seem brave seem is a linking verb there is no action in here it's just joining the subject and the compliment brave the compliment can be noun adjective etc now all of this is actually being very simple you understand very clearly in these examples what the subject is a lot of people have a hard time identifying the subject of a clause or the subject of a sentence I have a video about that specifically you should watch if this is difficult for you subjects can be all types of things complements can be all types of things objects can be all types of things nouns and noun phrases compound nouns noun clauses infinitives prepositional phrases all types of things can be subjects and objects so make sure you watch that video to understand now lastly subject plus intransitive verb a verb that does not take an object but it does take so it doesn't need some other information to be complete so if an object answers what or whom the adverb answers where when how why or whatever other questions come up that are necessary to answer so pilots fly okay this is a your Clause subject and verb it's enough information it's a it could be a complete sentence about what what is a pilot what do pilots do but if you want to give specific information when do they fly so they've pilots fly during all hours of the day and night so during all hours of the day and night this is a prepositional phrase and this is used as an adverb to answer the question when about the verb fly and together fly during all hours this is your predicate tells you something about pilots your subject and then you have a complete meaning that a complete message that you want to express now if you only say pilots fly that's fine but it doesn't give me any the information that you need that will link to the next sentence or to the previous sentence or it doesn't convey enough information to make your message of the overall essay or the paragraph understood so you must make sure that your clauses are complete with subject and complete predicate to have a complete meaning that you want to express okay now here are some combinations subject verb object and predicate complement that complements do the entire predicate as an adverb pilots employ employee here means use not like give a job to pilots employer pilots use a variety of tools this is a complete clause a complete subject and predicate but I need more information they employ a variety of tools to ensure the safety of their passengers in plane so you can say pilots employ to ensure it doesn't make sense so to ensure the safety of this is a prep infinitive phrase used to answer the question why so why do they employ a variety of tools so that it's not just the verb employee it's about the whole predicate employ a variety of tools why to ensure so make sure that everything is complete everything has enough information so the reader or the listener can get your message clearly subject verb adverb adverb pilots train okay how long four years why to be qualified so four years tells you how long they train to be qualified tells you why they train train four years to be qualified is your complete predicate about the subject pilots okay I hope while this is clear but basically you need to have complete information in order to get a complete message to the reader subject verb to object remember that a noun clause can be an object the teacher told his students so told to whom his students indirect object what did he tell them that beginning a noun clause this is your direct object he would be and now in your noun clause it is still a clause it still needs a subject and its own predicate he subject would be verb absent the following week he would be what absent when the following week that's your complete predicate and that noun clause works as the direct object to told the teacher told and who his students okay hope this is all clear let's look at some more examples the Chairman called notice chairman is with a capital C this is a title the Chairman called so I come into the office today and I said anything happened yeah the Chairman called okay I'll call him back subject-verb enough the Chairman called who or whom me the Chairman called when last week so sv s vo sv a etc you see you see all these things there it doesn't matter what you put in there as long as the message you or the idea you want to express is complete you have a good sentence if something is missing if the reader can't make connections then you're missing something as the writer and your writing is weakened by that the Chairman called the meeting to order now you have to be careful again with your verbs called means on the phone called or called with shout out someone's name call to order this is an expression a collocation call to order means demanded quiet demanded order in the in the meeting called for demanded requested it's a phrasal verb it's not called called for means asked people to come to the meeting called why to request the documents called why to request that the documents be sent to him to request what that would noun clause object to request so request to request this is your infinitive phrase why and then a request is a transitive verb it needs an object now in closet that the documents be sent him the documents subject of the noun clause be sent verb to him the Committee Chairman called so chairman here small see this is a position not a title committee is just an adjective the Committee Chairman called the Chairman called same Clause structure you can add modifiers all you want the Chairman is American you have a be verb we have a subject complement now I took this sentence as the this example from a TOEFL book actually because sometimes what do you what you look at are very complex sentences and some people have a hard time putting all the different pieces together so the all you want to do is basically put all your information into simpler clauses that you can recognize subject predicate the first complete American Dictionary of the English language was compiled in 1828 by the lawyer and lexicographer Noah Webster who was particularly eager to show this time that this English spoken in America was distinct from that spoken in Britain put it everything into simple clauses Noah Webster was a lawyer and lexicographer okay the lawyer lexicographer reduced clause who was Noah Webster reduce clauses become phrases well I'm gonna make a separate video about phrases but just understand what is happening now here's your independent clause in 1828 he compiled so notice I changed from passive to active just to make it easier he compiled the first complete American Dictionary of the English language very simple he subject compiled verb what the first dictionary okay everything else is modifiers he was particularly eager okay now who was who is Noah Webster so he is a subject who is the subject in the original was particularly eager was be verb eager that's a subject complement he was eager why or about what to show to show what show as a transitive verb needs an object that noun clause object the English language that was spoken or take out that was we don't need it that's a reduced Claus a Claus reduced to a phrase separate video spoke in America was distinct from etc now here's a more challenging one I want you to press pause on your video player I want you to read this sentence this sentence I've used before and other examples this sentence is the first sentence of the American Declaration of Independence very important sentence and yet not a simple sentence okay very tricky for people to understand when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation okay so first thing you want to know after you've paused and looked at it how many clauses are in this sentence that can you identify them remember every time you identify a clause you're identifying a subject and predicate combination and what is the name or what first of all what is the independent clause and what is the main subject of this sentence take a little time work it through when you're ready press play and I'll show you first of all there are six clauses so now what you want to do you just want to separate all the clauses so you can get all the information you need independent clause a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires respect is your main verb I start your main subject of the of that whole sentence decent respect so decent is a modifier adjective respect to the opinions of mankind what kind of respect so it's to the opinions this is just a phrase a compliment phrase respect a decent respect requires there's your verb requires is a transitive verb you means you need an object requires what that they should declare the causes noun clause they subject should declare verb declare what the causes object now which causes those which impels them to the separation now this was written 200 years ago they didn't really worry about wait which or that today I would use that then they used weights that's fine which subject impel verb them object to the separation which separation well the one that happens when in the course of human events it becomes it subject becomes this whole thing is an adjective clause when beginning with when it becomes necessary now we need a compliment for one people to dissolve it becomes necessary to dissolve and to assume and then bands which bands which have connected them which subject have connected verb to assume among the powers etc this is all phrase which station the one to wage the laws of nature entitle them the laws entitled to which adjectives objects sorry object clause marker I will make separate videos about noun clauses adjective clauses adverb clauses phrases complements all this stuff the key is now to take any complex sentence you find separate it into the clauses identify the independent identify the dependent and make sure you know understand how everything works with everything what are the subjects what are their complete predicates and then you'll be able to understand basically any sentence you come across okay and that's basically it for today very straightforward introduction to clauses introduction to the essential components of writing and I will make more videos very soon just to take you all the way through to all the different types of sentences okay if you have any questions about this please ask me in the youtube comments section and I'll be happy to answer please if you like this video please give me a like please subscribe to my channel and there'll be more videos grammar vocab writing tips tests tips etc I'll see you again very soon bye bye

Channel: Write to Top

Views: 31,312

Rating: 4.9380097 out of 5

Keywords: IELTS, English writing, writing, language test, English test, task 2, IELTS grammar, structure, how to write, essay writing, test preparation, test tips, study tips, pass the IELTS, IELTS high score, language skills, writing skills, how to write in English, IELTS high band, English grammar, IELTS Reading, IELTS writing, IELTS essay, IELTS band 7+, what is a clause, clause types, essential grammar, sentence parts, high band score

Id: ZA9oqarF6N4

Length: 21min 20sec (1280 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 02 2018