1. Independent Clauses: These clauses can stand alone as a complete sentence. They contain a subject and a verb and express a complete thought.
* Examples:
* The dog barked loudly.
* She is going to the store.
* I love pizza.
2. Dependent Clauses: These clauses cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. They rely on an independent clause for their meaning. They also contain a subject and a verb, but they express an incomplete thought.
* Examples:
* Because the dog barked loudly. (needs an independent clause like "The neighbors were startled")
* When she goes to the store. (needs an independent clause like "She will buy milk")
* Since I love pizza. (needs an independent clause like "I eat it often")
There are also different categories of dependent clauses:
* Adverb clauses: These clauses modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. They answer questions like "when?", "where?", "why?", "how?" etc.
* Example: *When the sun sets, the stars come out.*
* Adjective clauses: These clauses modify nouns or pronouns. They usually begin with relative pronouns like "who," "which," "that," etc.
* Example: *The girl who lives next door is my friend.*
* Noun clauses: These clauses act as nouns in a sentence. They can be the subject, object, or complement of a verb.
* Example: *I know that you are right.*
In summary: There are two main types of clauses in English: independent and dependent. Dependent clauses can be further categorized as adverb clauses, adjective clauses, and noun clauses.