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Writers' Guide>
Sentence Patterns
The following article defines phrases and clauses; then it describes how these groups of words are used to create various types of sentences or sentence patterns.
A knowledge of how groups of words function to convey units of thought further enhances our ability to communicate clearly. This is why we need to know about sentence patterns, the fundamentals of how those units of thought that we call sentences are constructed.
This outline describes the basic sentence patterns. Specifically, it tells how we can express ourselves by presenting our thoughts in a variety of ways, by using different combinations of word groups called clauses. But first we would be justified in asking the question: Why bother? The answer is that variety in sentence length and structure makes writing more lively and interesting, that it gives writing more maturity, that it enables us to emphasize what we want to emphasize and to de-emphasize what we consider less important, and that it provides a match of thought and structure. If that is not enough reason, we can also assert that attention to appropriate sentence structure creates writing that is clearer and easier to understand – and any writer's primary goal should be to express his or her thoughts clearly so that the reader can readily and completely understand what these thoughts are.
Phrases and Clauses
We begin with two definitions:
A phrase is a group of words that lacks either a subject or a verb. We are all familiar with some common types of phrases such as the prepositional phrase (e.g., "to the airport," which contains a preposition, article, and noun but no verb). These word groups usually function within clauses; they are parts of the clause, just as words are parts of the phrase.
A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb. Clauses are what we are dealing with when we discuss sentence patterns; the types of clauses and number of clauses in a sentence determine the sentence pattern.
Independent and Dependent Clauses
Although all clauses contain a subject and a verb, not all clauses express a complete thought. And that's the difference between the two types.
An independent clause (also called a main clause) contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought. "Booper is the cat's name" qualifies: subject = Booper; verb = is; the cat's name = the rest of the sentence and completes the thought. An independent clause is thus a complete simple sentence.
[A note of caution: We tend to think of "a complete thought" as something that can "stand alone." However, a statement such as "It is her name" cannot literally "stand alone" – we do not know what "It" and "her" refer to. Nonetheless, "It is her name" is grammatically a complete thought – an independent clause, a simple sentence.]
A dependent clause (also called a subordinate clause) also has a subject and verb, but it is not a complete thought. It is introduced by a subordinating conjunction (or by a relative pronoun). "Because Booper is the cat's name" is a dependent clause, made dependent or subordinate by the subordinating conjunction because.
[Subordinate clauses introduced by relative pronouns also exist, but these function as nouns or modifiers. For the sake of simplicity in describing sentence patterns, we omit these types of subordinate clauses from the main discussion, covering them in the section below entitled "Addendum: Adverb, Adjective, and Noun Clauses."]
Sentence Patterns
The symbol IC = independent clause; the symbol DC = dependent clause
A simple sentence consists of one independent clause (IC):
– The rain fell for three days.
– Every street in town was flooded.
The compound sentence consists of two or more independent clauses (IC + IC). The two clauses are usually connected by a coordinating conjunction, of which there are seven – and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet. However, two other patterns exist for the compound sentence. In one of these, a semicolon and a transitional word or phrase are placed between the two clauses; in the other, only a semicolon is used between the two clauses.
– The rain fell for three days, and every street in town was flooded. (Uses the coordinating conjunction and)
– The rain fell for three days; therefore, every street in town was flooded. (Uses the semicolon and the transitional word therefore)
– The rain fell for three days; every street in town was flooded. (Uses only the semicolon)
The complex sentence consists of one or more dependent clauses and an independent clause. The dependent clause may precede the independent clause (DC + IC) or may follow it (IC + DC). [Punctuation Note: When the dependent clause comes first, it is followed by a comma; the only exception is that the comma may be omitted after a very short introductory clause if omitting it does not create confusion. When the dependent clause follows the independent clause, no comma is usually necessary – though one may be used occasionally for emphasis, for clarity, or for underscoring contrast.]
– Because the rain fell for three days, every street in town was flooded. (DC + IC}
– Every street in town was flooded because the rain fell for three days. (IC + DC)
The compound-complex sentence consists of one or more dependent clauses and two or more independent clauses. Here’s one with an introductory dependent clause, two independent clauses in the middle, and a closing dependent clause (the dependent clauses are underlined):
Because the rain fell for three days, every street in town was flooded, and people abandoned their homes as the river overflowed its banks.
Addendum: Adverb, Adjective, and Noun Clauses
Subordinate clauses are also classified in terms of how they function within the sentence. Two types are those that serve as modifiers:
Adverb clauses are the type illustrated in the above discussion of complex sentences. In “Because the rain fell for three days, every street in town was flooded,” the “because” clause is adverbial. An adverb clause usually modifies a verb, but it may modify an adjective, an adverb, or even the rest of the sentence in which it appears. In our sample sentence, the “because” clause actually modifies the rest of the sentence (the independent clause).
Adjective clauses modify nouns or pronouns. Most adjective clauses are also known as relative clauses because they are usually introduced by the relative pronoun who, which, that, whose, or whom. The relative pronoun is the subject or object of the clause it begins. Adjective clauses also usually appear immediately after the word that they modify. (In the previous sentence, that they modify is an adjective clause modifying word.)
Noun clauses, as the name implies, function as nouns. That is, they are word groups with their own subject and verb that in turn function as a subject, object, or complement in a sentence. Noun clauses also function sometimes as nouns of direct address or as appositives. Examples:
– Whatever you ask is going to be too much. (“Whatever you ask” is a noun clause and the subject of the sentence.)
– We expect that the rain will stop soon. (“that the rain will stop soon” is the object of the verb “expect.”)
– This is what I was waiting for. (“what I was waiting for” is the complement.)
– I will give whoever writes the best essay an A in the course. (“whoever writes the best essay” is the indirect object.)
– She spends money for whatever she wants. (“whatever she wants” is the object of the preposition.)
– Whoever you are, come out of there. (“Whoever you are” is a noun of direct address.)
– I don’t want it, whatever it is. (“whatever it is” is an appositive.) 
Rich Turner
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