The literary analysis of Clauses explain that every sentence that we speak or write in English language is a Clause.
What is Clause?
A clause is a collection of words, which is constructed with a subject and a verb phrase that could contain some object along with other modifiers. In the clause, the subject is usually not mentioned or concealed, but you will always find verb, noticeable and evident.
As we look at the examples here:
“She worked abroad last year”, this is a one clause that is made up of subject and verb. While when we look at the other sentence that is “When she went there, she met him”, these are two clauses in a sentence.
What is Main Clause?
The main clause is also known as an Independent clause. You will find a main clause in every sentence. This clause is also a part of complex or compound sentence. If stands alone, the main clause has its own meaning too. For instance, He was making a sandwich. This sentence is a complete one and can be enhanced when we add predicate or by adding conjunctions in it.
Literary Analysis of Clauses
What are Compound Clauses?
When main clause has more than two clauses in it, they are called compound sentences. These clauses are joined by a conjunction, such as so, but and others.
The example of Compound clause is:
She is a lawyer, but she likes to paint. Here, we have two clauses in it.
What is Subordinate Clause?
A clause that is dependent on the other clause for its meaning is known as a Subordinate clause. Along with the main clause, when a subordinate clause is present, it creates a complex sentence. Complex sentences are the ones with one or more subordinate
clauses. In the subordinate clauses, the idea is left unfinished. Lets look into these two sentences,
After we had a picnic, we went back to home.
Here the main clause is we went back to home and the first clause is the dependent or subordinate one. On the other clause, we see the latter clause is dependent on the first one. We went back to home can express a complete meaning even when said or read alone. Whereas, After we had picnic is a subordinate clause.
Types of Subordinate Clause
There are four types of subordinate clauses, conditional clause, relative clause, restrictive relative clause, non-restrictive relative clause.
The conditional clause begins with unless or if, it shows a sentence that is describing something possible. Like, If airlines will operate, I will be travelling tomorrow. When the sentence has the word If written, it will not make sense when read alone, but when we will read it with the latter part, it will explain a lot. When we read I will be travelling tomorrow, it is a main clause that can be read alone and still can make sense.
What is Relative Clause?
The relative clause is when a sentence or clause is connected to the main clause, the connecter are whom, which, whom, when, whose, etc. Also, when we have to refer towards something, we use that, mostly in the British English, She was wearing the shoes, the she bought from Nike.
A restrictive relative clause is the one that provides us with the important information about the noun that is written before it. If we do not write that clause then there will be no sense made by the sentence. This clause contains which, who, that, whom.
There is no need to put a comma when you are placing a restrictive relative clause.
For example: He gave the letter that was written by him. In it, that was written by him is a restrictive relative clause, whereas the starting clause is the main clause.
The non-restrictive relative clause is the clause that fills us with some additional information about the main clause. If we even drop the non-restrictive clause, it will not affect the structure or meaning of the main sentence. These sentences can be started with whom, which, who. You do not use that in these sentences. There must
be a comma before them. None restrictive clause can occur in the middle of the sentence as well.
Jim, who wanted to go to the gym, refused to go for a week.
Here the middle part is the non-restrictive clause that has who in it. If this middle part is dropped from this sentence, it will still be considered as the complete sentence.
After main and subordinate clauses, we have another type of difference between clauses that is finite and infinite clause.
What is finite clause?
In the finite clause, there is a verb which acts as the root of the main clause. They give out the information about a person, mood, situation, etc. The verbs in this clause could be present or past.
For example, was it raining?
It is raining.
It is either about present or past raining.
What is non- finite clause?
In the non-finite verb, the verb does not show any tense. This type of verb can be used in the subordinate verb mostly. The time of these clauses is usually understood by looking at the main clause. To understand non finite clauses more, we need to consider them in the environment that they are appearing. There are three types of
this clause, infinitive, participle, and gerund.
In the infinitive type, we use the basic form of the verb that appears in the dictionary.
As we say, I walk there. This is finite, but when I say, I must walk there, it is non finite.
In the participle type of sentences, we get –ing words, and the –ed words.
Example: The person is fixing table. Or the person fixed the table.
The third type that is a gerund. It is the form of the verb that appears in the place of the noun. It has active participles that end with –ing. When we use it as a subject, Singing is my passion. As an object we say, I like singing good songs. When using
as a preposition, After singing that song, she became famous. Though, there are no visible differences between the non- finite, active participle and gerund.
This is an in-depth literary analysis of Clauses, which is the major part in the construction of English language.
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