Questions tagged [clauses]
Clauses are smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition
525 questions
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Use of semicolon followed by conjunction: standard English punctuation?
I recognize my query nearly duplicates this question from 9 years back, but since usage evolves apace and because the below hurts my ear while my supervisor insists the sentence sounds as sweet as ...
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Use of the conjunction “before” about relative clause [duplicate]
Can a relative clause or noun clause follow “before” when it is used as a conjunction?
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How should I decide on nonessential clause?
Here are two sentences:
Everyone who enters the contest gets a prize.
(no commas)
and
My sister, who is a good student, hates her hair.
(commas)
The second sentence has commas because "who is a ...
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answer
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Is the comma incorrect after "Please visit [website]**,** and look for a formal invitation to follow" [duplicate]
We would love for you to join us as we celebrate our wedding on April 6, 2026, in [City, State]. Please visit [website], and look for a formal invitation to follow.
My reasoning is that we can use a ...
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1
answer
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SAT question with unclear justification for the answer choice [closed]
Answer = A
Answer = D
Both of these are questions from the Prep Pros SAT grammar book. Within this chapter the book previous states that an independent + dependent clause = independent. Hence, that ...
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Is this a negative or a canonical clause?
A Student's Introduction to English Grammar defines:
We define a canonical clause as a POSITIVE, DECLARATIVE, ACTIVE, NON-COORDINATE, MAIN
CLAUSE WITH THE USUAL CONSTITUENT ORDER.
Exercise 7v of ...
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3
answers
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use of the word 'and' instead of 'or' means opposite?
Question regarding the meaning of a sentence. Does the below sentence indicate that a house which has a crawl space and an attic is EXCLUDED?
Homes without basements, crawl space systems, attic ...
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Syntactic analysis of a sentence
I had to do a full syntactic analysis of a sentence which I did. I'd love to see your opinion on whether my thoughts are correct or not.
But it isn't hard to think of school subjects that provide ...
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Syntactic analysis of "The pros are that working in a foreign language can make people make better decisions."
I need some help with defining the type of the sentence (simple, complex, or compound-complex) and its clauses. Here's the sentence:
The pros are that working in a foreign language can make people ...
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1
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What is the correct answer and reasoning to this question? [closed]
I stumbled upon this question while reviewing for the SAT:
Jetties—long, narrow structures that extend from a landmass into the water—are often constructed to protect coastlines from erosion. Jetties ...
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Nonrestrictive attributive clauses, comma and meaning of the sentence
Here is a question:
Her first book introduced Detective Grand of Scotland Yard, (___) institution, creativity and perseverance help him to solve the most complicated cases.
A. where
B. when
C. ...
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Is it acceptable to use "and which" to introduce a modifying clause—or is the “which” redundant and/or incorrect?
I’ve often written sentences of the form
(X happened) in a classroom that was led by a teacher and which featured real students.
A co-worker insists it should be
(X happened) in a classroom that ...
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2
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597
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Comma Usage with "Not... But Rather"
Just wanted to ask this because I feel like I haven't found any answers for this particular issue, but should there be a comma in a sentence that uses a "not... but rather" construction? For ...
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2
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"A modifier in clause structure" — Is it possible to understand by this phrase what head the modifier modifies?
Sometimes I come across the phrase "a modifier in clause structure".
Can we draw the unambiguous conclusion from this phrase about what head such a modifier modifies?
If we can, then what ...
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Clauses in wh-cleft sentences
In sentences like
What Mary bought was a first edition.
which part would be the dependent and which would be the independent clause?
How could I break this down into a formula, something like "...
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