Relating Ideas in a Sentence
Clauses
A clause contains both a subject and a verb. There are a variety of clause types.
There are customers in this coffee shop who have preferred decaffeinated coffee for years.
There are many grains of wheat in a loaf of bread.
There are red picnic tables in the park.
Independent Clause
An independent clause is a complete sentence when used alone. It contains the subject and the verb of a sentence. Independent clauses are also named 'main clauses'.
Example:
There are a number of employees in this food service company.
There are quick-stop markets in town.
Dependent Clause
A dependent clause is not a complete sentence and must be used together with an independent clause.
Example:
who have used a polluted food processing system
who have been bringing condiment production in-house
Relative Clause
A relative clause modifies a noun or noun phrase and is dependent. Relative clauses provide additional information which identifies or describes a noun. Relative clauses are also referred to as adjective clauses.
Example:
There is meat in the freezer that has been frozen for three months..
There is canned food in the discard pile that has been punctured in transport.