[Grammar] Subordinate clauses

[gurpreetgill4u]

Hello,

I have been studying clauses for several days now, and I am still not sure what qualifies as a complete thought.I have seen several subordinate clauses which
have a subject and a verb, and to me, they make a complete sense.I have gone
through every website, and I am still not sure where to use "comma" and where I should not.

The most annoying thing is that we use comma before "but" and "and" in some cases and leave it out in other.

B) "When using a coordinating conjunction to connect two items, do not use a comma." What does item refer to?

I would really appreciate it if you could clear this up with some examples.

Thanks for taking time to view my post.

 

[GoesStation]

I don't have time to answer your question now, sorry. But I'll give you a quick tip: punctuation marks at the end of a word require a single space before the first letter of the next word.

 

[Tarheel]

A sentence (main clause) can stand on its own, but a subordinate clause cannot.

 

[TheParser]

I have seen several subordinate clauses which
have a subject and a verb, and to me, they make a complete sense.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Gurpreetgill:

I believe that it is accurate to say that ALL subordinate clauses have a subject and a verb. But do they make complete sense by themselves?

I have made up these sentences (the subordinate clause is underlined):

1. More people would like him if he were not so arrogant.

a. If you went up to a stranger on the street and said, "If he were not so arrogant," the stranger would probably reply, "What are you talking about?" Some people might even quickly walk away from you in fright!
b. If you went up to a stranger and said the main clause "More people would respect him," maybe the stranger would simply say "That's nice."

2. When [you are] interviewing for a job, do not chew gum.
Do not chew gum when interviewing for a job.

How would you feel if a stranger came up to you and suddenly said, "When interviewing for a job"?

Would you consider that what s/he was saying made "complete sense"?

On the other hand, if s/he said the main clause "Do not chew gum," you might answer: "OK, I won't."

That is why subordinate clauses are called sub[under]ordinate clauses. They depend on the main clause to make complete sense.

 

[Barb_D]

I can't support the "accost strangers on the street with sentences or sentence fragments and judge from their reaction whether it's a complete thought" line of argument.

There are a number of words that signal that you have a subordinate clause. They are the "subordinate conjunctions" and you can find some here: https://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/subordinating-conjunction.html

Your "two items" question: I would interpret this to mean two things of the same type.
I like the Tigers and the Mets.
I spent my days swimming and reading by the beach.
I took me two hours to fold the laundry and put it all away.

The old rule was that if you had two independent clauses joined by an "and" or "or" you should use a comma.
I folded the laundry, and I put it all away.
These days, that is often ignored in shorter sentences like the one above.

 

[Tarheel]

I'm not going to ask total strangers about subordinate clauses anytime soon.

;-)