Delahunty and Garvey
Some sentences include both coordinate and subordinate clauses. These
are called compound/complex sentences:
[S1 When he’s good, he’s very, very good] but [S2 when he’s bad, he’s horrid]
In this example, but coordinates S1 and S2, however, S1 and S2 each con-
tain a modifying subordinate clause beginning with when (italicized).
Exercise
In each of the following examples, put brackets around each clause and
then say whether it is a main clause, a subordinate clause, or a coordi-
nate clause. For example, [Mahogony Gamble says] (Main clause) [that
membership has exploded] (Subordinate clause) and [that many new
members are from non-Buddhist families] (Subordinate clause)—the
two subordinate clauses are coordinated/conjoined by and.
a. Biologists believe that tigers can swim and that dodoes are ex-
tinct.
b. If it rains and the weather gets cold, we won’t go for our hike.
c. Susan felt pretty bad, but when she went to the doctor, he
couldn’t find anything wrong with her.
d. Although the house is Wi-Fi, the laptop can’t access the internet
unless the main PC is also logged on.
phrases.
Phrases are grammatical units composed of one or more words that func-
tion as unified parts of clauses. They are traditionally viewed as not contain-
ing both a subject and a predicate, e.g., this old house, the Sopranos, crime
scene investigator, should do important work, in a balloon, very wicked, are all
phrases. But this old and should do important are not complete phrases.
Exercise
For each of the following items say whether it is a phrase, a sentence,
or a clause. For example, Wherever you go, you can now email (Sen-
tence); At your service (Phrase); that the clock isn’t correct (Clause).
a. A Christmas story from Belfast.
b. At 30,000 feet.
c. Extraordinarily beautiful.