What constitutes an independent clause?

WasatchWriter
Fri, 17 Jan 2014 12:31:59 +0000

At a minimum, an independent clause requires a subject and a finite verb. “Birds fly.” “Running through the streets” is not a clause of any kind because (1) there is no subject and (2) “running” is not a finite verb. “John runs through the streets” and “John is running through the streets” are independent clauses.

The more usual problem is accidentally adding words to an independent clause and making it dependent. “Because birds fly” is not independent because the conjunctions needs something to connect the clause to: “I need a shotgun because birds fly” joins one clause to the other. “I need a shotgun” is independent and “because birds fly” is dependent.