7th Grade Grammar: Clauses, Sentence & Modifiers Flashcards
Subject
The person of thing that does the action in a sentence. (Must contain a noun or pronoun.)
Predicate
The action of the sentence. (Must contain a verb.)
Independent Clause
A group of words that contains a subject and predicate and expresses a complete thought.
Dependent Clause
A group of words that contains a subject and predicate, but DOES NOT express a complete thought.
Coordinating Conjunction
Words used to combine two independent clauses into a compound sentence. (FANBOYS)
FANBOYS
An acronym that stands for the coordinating conjunctions that can be used to create compound sentences: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So.
Subordinating Conjunctions
Words that make a clause dependent on another one. Complex sentences need one of these.
SWABI
An acronym that stands for the most common subordinating conjunctions used in complex sentences: Since, When, After/Although, Because/Before, If.
Compound Sentence
A sentence that contains two independent clauses joined together with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS).
Complex Sentence
A sentence that contains one independent clause and one dependent clause. The dependent clause starts with a subordinating conjunction (SWABI). The clauses can go in either order, and you only need a comma if the dependent clause comes FIRST.
Simple Sentence
A sentence that contains only one independent clause and nothing else.
Relative Clause
A clause that provides extra information about a noun. These kinds of clauses can be used in any sentence type.
Restrictive Relative Clause
A relative clause that is essential to the meaning of the sentence. These do not require commas.
Non-Restrictive Relative Clause
A relative clause that provides less important information that does not change the meaning of the sentence. These require commas.
Modifier
A word or phrase that modifies, or adds more information to, another part of the sentence.
