he b. who which d. while
STRUCTURE 53
MAKING SENSE OF SENTENCES
The grass grows. This is an example of the basic unit of thought in the English language: the sentence. Sentences must have two
key parts—a subject and a predicate—and express a complete thought. The subject grass names what the sentence is talking
about. The predicate is a verb or verb phrase grows that tells us something about the subject. The subject of a sentence may be
singular, meaning that there is only one subject. Subjects may also be compound, meaning they have more than one subject:
The grass and the flowers grow.
The predicate may also be singular or compound. For exam- ple, here the predicate is singular: I ate a bowl of spaghetti. In the
following example, the predicate is a compound: I ate a bowl of spaghetti and drank two glasses of milk.
WHAT IS A CLAUSE?
Like sentences, clauses are groups of words that have a subject and a predicate. Clauses may be independent or dependent. An
independent clause stands alone and expresses a complete idea as in this example: Ximena walked on the grass. When a sentence
has more than one independent clause, it is called a compound sentence. In compound sentences, independent clauses are joined
by a connecting word or conjunction and, but, or, for, nor, so, or yet. In the following example, the independent clauses are under-
lined: Ximena walked on the grass, but she didn’t get her new shoes wet.
A dependent clause does not express a complete thought:
though it was wet. When a dependent clause stands alone, it is called a sentence fragment. To make a complete thought, a dependent
54 TOEFL EXAM ESSENTIALS
clause needs an independent clause: Though it was wet, Ximena walked on the grass. Sentences that contain an independent clause
and a dependent clause are called complex sentences.
Quick tip: To identify a sentence fragment or dependent
clause on the TOEFL exam, look for the following joining words, called subordinating conjunctions. When a clause has a sub-
ordinating conjunction, it needs an independent clause to com- plete an idea.
after because
once though
when although
before since
unless where
as, as if if
that until
while
Practice
Underline the independent clauses in the following sentences. Find the answers on page 82.
1. I went for a walk downtown and mailed your letter. 2. If it is hot tomorrow, let’s go to the beach.