Independent and Dependent Clause Overview - Kenneth | Learn English at EnglishCafe

There are two types of clauses in English: independent clauses and dependent clauses. Clauses generally combine with other clauses to form full sentences.  

Example:

There are a lot of people in the room who have come for this discussion.

Independent Clauses

In the example above "There are a lot of people in the room" is an independent clause. Independent clauses are phrases which can stand alone as sentences. Independent clauses may be combined with other clauses, but can also be used as sentences without other clauses.

Here are some examples of independent clauses. In this case, I've added a period to use these independent clauses as full sentences.  

That man bought a new car last week.

She visited her mother in Chicago.

Peter made the presentation.

Dependent Clauses

In the first example, "... who have come for this discussion." is a dependent clause. Dependent clauses rely on independent clauses to form sentences. A dependent clause cannot be made into a full sentence.

Here are the examples of dependent clauses:

which was manufactured in France  

where it was very cold and windy

who had arrived late

Now, I'll combine the examples from the independent clauses to the dependent clauses to illustrate how they work together. The dependent clause is in italics.

That man bought a new car, which was manufactured in France, last week.

She visited her mother in Chicago where it was very cold and windy.

Peter, who had arrived late, made the presentation.