CHAPTER 7 Building Better Sentences^163
You read about such a clause in Chapter 1; it is a fragment. After reading it, you
want to ask, “Then what?” The answer to the question is in the rest of the sentence
(after the comma), rightfully named the independent clause. Our team can win the
title is independent because it can stand alone as a sentence. The writer added the if
clause to stress one idea over another.
Now look for a connection between the following two thoughts:
Although he likes to walk in the woods and photograph fl owers, David loves to
rest in an open fi eld.What did the writer want to emphasize in this sentence? The word although signals
the dependent clause, the part of the sentence that cannot stand alone. It tells you that
the writer wanted to emphasize the second (or independent) half of the sentence. The
fi rst part of the sentence is subordinated to the second half by the word although.
Look at another example:
Although you have driven for many more years than I have, I have experience
in cross-country driving.What is this sentence stressing, the years of driving or the cross-country driving
experience? The latter is the stressed idea and the independent clause. How do you
know? The clause can stand alone. The clause starting with although would be a
fragment if it stood alone. What one word makes it a dependent clause? The word
although does that.
To connect ideas that are not equal, choose from the following list of conjunctions:
after although as because
if since though unless
when whenever where whereas
Written Practice 7-5
To complete each of the following sentences, choose a conjunction from the
previous list.
- you babysit for us, I don’t worry about the children.
- you hear otherwise, I’ll pick you up at 5 P.M.
- I have been taller than you the sixth grade.
- the game, we tailgated.