An independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence, expressing a complete thought. In contrast, a dependent clause cannot stand alone as a complete sentence and relies on an independent clause to form a complete thought.
Chat with our AI personalities
Only an independent clause can stand independently. A dependent clause is dependent on an independent clause.
Independent clause: "I went to the store." Dependent clause: "Because it was raining."
A complex sentence is a sentence that contains an independent clause and at least one dependent clause. The independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence, while the dependent clause relies on the independent clause to make sense.
A complex sentence has one independent clause and one dependent clause. The independent clause can stand alone as a sentence, while the dependent clause cannot.
"He moved" is the independent clause because it can stand alone as a complete sentence. "But then" is a subordinating conjunction that introduces the dependent clause which adds more information about the action in the independent clause.