For Those Who Want To Pass the CSET Know Clauses

You need to learn about independent clauses, dependent clauses, and relative clauses if you want to pass the CSET English or the CSET Multiple Subjects exams.

In this lesson I will define what independent, dependent, and relative clauses are. Next, you will look at the comma splice and the appositive. You will then learn what simple, compound, and complex sentences are. You will then watch six videos. Finally, you will take a CSET practice test on clauses. The answer key will follow at the end of this lesson.

Independent Clauses

An independent clause consists of a subject and a predicate. A subject is essentially the topic of the clause, and a predicate says something about the topic. Consider these examples (with predicates underlined):

The assistant weighed the samples.
Our supervisor submitted the proposal.
The computer has two parallel ports.
Phyllis is one of our best engineers.

In each case, we have a subject (the assistant, our supervisor, the computer, Phyllis), and in each case we say something about the subject (what they did, or what they’re like). Thus, each of the four examples above is an independent clause containing a subject and a predicate.

Dependent Clauses

Another term for dependent clause is subordinate clause: this means that the clause is subordinate to another element (the independent clause) and depends on that other element for its meaning.

A dependent clause is a clause which cannot exist on its own; it needs a main (or independent) clause to go with it. For example:

Because it was raining, I took my umbrella.

This sentence contains two clauses, “Because it was raining” and “I took my umbrella”. The first clause does not mean anything on its own. If you say “Because it was raining”, and nothing