Clauses

clauses.md

Finding Clauses

The teacher emphasized using "keywords" to find clauses, such as "that", "when", "how", "what", "which", "who", "if", and so on. The problem is that those keywords don't always appear.

Usually, the word "that" could be taken out from the sentence.

• He said (that) it worked.
• Pick any color (that) you want!
• You may say (that) I'm a dreamer.

Now here are the steps I used to identify clauses:

One has read my mind and drawn the life I long to live and said don’t fool yourself now.

Find all the finite verbs in a sentence

Finite verbs are the verb that has subject and changes with the tense. For example:

• Past tense: He asked me.
• Present simple: they change with singular and plural: I like trains. He likes trains.
• can / could / may / might. I couldn't smile. You may say I'm a dreamer.
• Present continuous: The ceiling's falling.
• Present perfect and stuff.
• Future tenses: The product will be delivered.
• Verb to be: is, am, are

infinitives and many verb+ing are not finite:

• It is not possible to please everyone.
• I'm not really sure what you're trying to do here.
• Doing it is not a good idea.

One has read my mind and drawn the life I long to live and said don’t fool yourself now.

Figure out the type of sentence

I don't know if it correct or not, but I categorize sentences into 3 types:

1. Simple. They have only one finite verb. I like coffee.
2. Compound. More than one finite verb, but they are joined with words like and, but, then, ... and are independent of each other. I like coffee but he doesn't.
3. Complex. More than one finite verb but aren't joined together. These words somehow depend on each other. One is the largest (the root) and the other must be in a clause.

So this sentence is compound:

{One has read my mind} and {drawn the life I long to live} and {said don’t fool yourself now}.

Find the clauses in complex sentences

One has read my mind ← simple
and
(one has) drawn the life I long to live ← complex
and
(one) said don’t fool yourself now. ← complex

Figure out which finite verb is the root.

"drawn" the life I long to live

Now for each smaller verbs, find out where each clause start and end.

"drawn" the life [(that) I long to live]

Then figure out what a particular clause is modifying, to figure the type of clause.

"drawn" the life [(that) I long to live (modifies "life") ← adjective clause]

and

"said" ['don’t fool yourself now' (object of "said") ← noun clause].

More examples

Close your eyes. ← simple

{Take some time just to center your soul ← simple}
and
{be at one ← simple}.
← compound

With the sky, ← just an adverb modifying "fly", not a clause
you can "fly" [if you unfurl your wings (modifies "fly") ← adverb caluse]
to face the sun.
← complex

In your mind,
you will "find" all the power
[(that) you need to get things done (modifies "power") ← adjective clause].
← complex

And your dreams...
They can seem like mere shadows of brighter days to come ← simple

{Dreams can come true ← simple}
but
{
    {they depend on you ← simple}
    and
    {(they depend on) [how strong you are (object for "depend on") ← noun clause] ← complex}.
    ← compound
}
← compound

Don't ever stop! ← simple

[If you never give up (modifies "be") ← adverb clause]
you'll be guaranteed to go far.
← complex

Sometimes, you just have to look for the keywords, because the finite verb is hidden. For example, "and how strong you are".

It worked, but I don't know why.

{It worked ← simple},
but
{I don't know [why (it worked) (object for "know") ← noun clause] ← complex}.
← compound

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