Clauses

A clause is a group of words with a subject and a predicate. In each word group below, we have italicized the simple subject and underlined the simple predicate.

  • before the game began
  • as you may know
  • but they claim innocence
  • for the baseball flies into left field
  • (you) Look up!
  • after the steam engine was invented
  • but one invention led to another
  • Eli Whitney's cotton gin speeded fabric production.
  • (you) Imagine that!
  • as the climber ascended Mount Everest
  • since the geographer had mapped the terrain
  • but Mount Everest is higher than Mount McKinley
  • as the judge tapped the gavel
  • since these courts are dealing with federal cases
  • but only one justice serves as Chief Justice
  • (you) Watch the court proceedings.

Examples 1

For each word group below, write the subject and predicate. Write "phrase" if the word group does not have both a subject and a predicate.

  1. when Nashville became famous
  2. inside the mansion
  3. along the ridge of the Smoky Mountains
  4. before you called
  5. Watch out!
  6. when electrical energy came
  7. into widespread use
  8. beside the deep and wide Mississippi River
  9. before I went
  10. Look up!
  11. to daydream all day
  12. in the Himalayan heights
  13. after we locate Nepal and Tibet
  14. searching for Southeast Asia
  15. if he followed the guide
  16. to appoint Supreme Court Justices
  17. in the United States
  18. after the President nominates the justices
  19. qualifying for service on the highest court
  20. if Congress had passed the law

Solutions

  1. The subject is Nashville, and the predicate is became
  2. This group of words is a phrase. It does not have a subject or predicate.
  3. This is a phrase. It has no subject or predicate.
  4. The subject is you; its predicate is called.
  5. We remember that the subject, you, of an imperative sentence is understood. (You) Watch out!
  6. The subject is energy, and the predicate is came.
  7. This group of words is a phrase. It does not have a subject or predicate.
  8. This is a phrase. It has no subject or predicate.
  9. The subject is I; its predicate is went.
  10. We remember that the subject, you, of an imperative sentence is understood. (You) Look up!
  11. This group of words is an infinitive phrase. It does not have a subject or predicate.
  12. This word group is a prepositional phrase. It does not have a subject or predicate.
  13. The subject is we; its predicate is locate.
  14. This is a gerund phrase. It does not have a subject or predicate.
  15. The subject is he; its predicate is followed.
  16. This group of words is an infinitive phrase. It does not have a subject or predicate.
  17. This word group is a prepositional phrase. It does not have a subject or predicate.
  18. The subject is President; its predicate is nominates.
  19. This is a gerund phrase. It does not have a subject or predicate.
  20. The subject is Congress; its predicate is had passed.

Diagramming Clauses

Every complete sentence has at least one clause, and some have more than one. We have italicized the simple subjects and underlined the simple predicates in each clause of the sentence below. Notice that that the sentence contains three subject and predicate combinations.

  • Before I went to Nashville, but after I wrote the song, I bought the guitar.

Below, we have diagrammed the simple subjects and simple predicates of each part the sentence above.

1. Before I went to Nashville,

2. but after I wrote the song,

3. I bought the guitar.

Examples 2

Diagram the simple subjects and simple predicates of each clause in this sentence:

  • The star sang popular rock-and-roll songs until his untimely death ended his career.

Solutions

We examine the sentence and find that there are two subject and predicate combinations:

  1. The star sang popular rock-and-roll songs
  2. until his untimely death ended his career

We diagram the first clause:

We diagram the second clause: