Practice Makes Perfect

subject + predicate

  

sentence

subject + predicate

  

independent clause

You will notice that they are the same. One might then wonder why it is necessary to use the ter-

minology independent clause. Why not simply call any structural grouping of a subject and pred-

icate a sentence? The answer lies within the fact that a sentence is sometimes but not always 

limited to an independent clause. However, sometimes a sentence includes both an independent 

and a dependent clause.

sentence = simple independent clause

or

sentence = independent clause + dependent clause

Examine the following example of a sentence, which comprises both types of clauses: depen-

dent and independent:

Je mange en attendant ton arrivée. 

I eat while waiting for your arrival.

In this sentence, one can identify the following clauses:

◆

  An independent clause: Je mange

◆

  A dependent clause: en attendant ton arrivée

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  practice makes perfect  Complete French All-in-One   

We use the term independent clause to describe the subject + verb grouping: Je mange. It 

differentiates this type of clause, which can exist by itself and which makes sense by itself, from a 

dependent clause such as en attendant ton arrivée, which only makes sense in conjunction with 

the independent clause.

In a sentence such as Je mange en attendant ton arrivée, which includes both an indepen-

dent and a dependent clause, the independent clause (the one which can stand alone and makes 

sense by itself) is also called the main clause.