2. Lesson 17: Incomplete
Independent Clauses
A) Clauses:
All sentences consist of one or more
clauses. A simple sentence consist of one
clase.
* People need vitamins.
* The man took a vitamin pill.
* Judy lives in northern California.
3. A compound sentence consists of two
independent clauses joined by a
coordinating conjunction (such as and and
but).
* The man took a vitamin pill, and he
drank a glass of orange juice.
* Judy lives in northern California now,
but she was raised in Ohio
4. A complex sentence consists of an
independent clause (called the main clause)
and a dependent (subordinate) clause.
Subordinate clauses may be adverb clauses,
noun clauses, or adjective clauses. In the
sentence below, the independent clauses is
italized.
* The man took a vitamin pill because he
had a cold.
(independent clause + adverb clause.)
5. B) Missing Subjects, Verbs, Objects, and
Complements.
All clauses have a subject and a verb.
Clauses with an action verb often take a
direct object as well.
Subejct Verb Object
People need vitamins
6. The verb missing from an independent
clause may be a single-word verb (need,
was, took, had, walked) or a verb phrase
consisting of one or more auxiliary verbs and
a main verb (will need, has been, should
take, would have had, had walked). The
verbs may be active (need, take) or passive
(was needed, is taken).
7. The missing subject and direct object may
be a noun (people, vitamins, Tom), a noun
phrase (some famous people, a vitamin pill)
or a pronoun (he, she, it).
After the verb to be and certain other non-
action verbs, a subject complement is used
rather than a direct object (subject complents
are also known as predicate nominatives and
predicate adjectives).
8. Subject Verb Complement
She is an architect.
C) Clauses with There and It.
Some clauses begin with the introductory
words there and it rather than with the
subject of the sentence. These introductory
words are sometimes called expletives.
9. The expletive there shows that someone or
something exists, usually at a particular time
or place. These sentences generally follow
the pattern there + verb to be + subject.
* There are many skycrapers in New
York city.
* There was a good movie on television
last night.
10. The expletive it is used in a number of
different situations and patterns:
* It is important to be punctual for
appointments.
(with the verb to be + adjective + infinitive)
* It was in 1959 that Alaska became a
state.
(with the verb to be + adverbal + noun clause)
* It takes a long time to learn a language.
(with the verb to take + tiem phrase + infinitive)
11. * It was David who did most of the work.
(with the verb to be + noun + relative clause)
It and there, along with the verb and other
sentence elements, may be missing from the
stem.
12. Exercise 17: Choose the one option –(A),
(B), (C), or (D)- that correctly completes
the sentences, and then mark the
appropriate blank.
1. In the United States, _____ is generally the responsability of
municipal governments.
_______ (A) for water treatment.
_______ (B) water treatment.
_______ (C) where water treatment.
_______ (D) in which water treatment.
13. 2. Crop rotation ______ of preserving soil fertility.
______ (A) it is one method
______ (B) one method
______ (C) a method is one
______ (D) is one method
3. _____ the dollar as its monetary unit in 1878.
______ (A) Canada adopted
______ (B) Adopted by Canada
______ (C) It was adopted by Canada
______ (D) The Canadian adoption of
14. 4. ______ almost impossible to capture the beauty of the aurora
borealis in photographs.
______ (A) Being
______ (B) It is
______ (C) There is
______ (D) Is
5. Usually, political cartoons ______ on the editorial page of a
newspaper.
______ (A) appear
______ (B) whose appearance
______ (C) by appearing
______ (D) when they appearg
15. 6. ______ two major art museums, the Frogg and the Sadler.
______ (A) Harvard University has
______ (B) At Harvard University
______ (C) Harvard University, with its
______ (D) There at Harvard University
7. American actress and director Margaret Webster _____ for her
production of Shakespearean plays
______ (A) who became famous
______ (B) famous as she became
______ (C) becoming famous
______ (D) became famous
16. 8. ______ gas tanks connected to welding equipment, one full of
oxygen and the other full of acetylene.
______ (A) It is two
______ (B) Of the two
______ (C) There are two
______ (D) Two
9. _____ is more interested in rhythm than in melody is apparent
from his compositions.
______ (A) That Philip Glass
______ (B) Philip Glass, who
______ (C) Philip Glass
______ (D) Because Philip Glass
17. 10. Compressed air ______ the power to drive pneumatic tools.
______ (A) by providing
______ (B) provides
______ (C) that provides
______ (D) the provision of
11. _____ by cosmics rays.
______ (A) The earth is constantly bombared
______ (B) Bombared constantly, the earth
______ (C) Bombarding the earth constantly
______ (D) The earth’s constant bombardment
18. 12. ______ primary colors are red, blue, and yellow.
______ (A) There are three
______ (B) The three
______ (C) Three of them
______ (D) That the three
13. _____ who was elected the first woman major of Chicago in
1979.
______ (A) It was Jane Byrne
______ (B) Jane Byrne
______ (C) That Jane Byrne
______ (D) When Jane Byrne
19. 14. On the Moon, ______ air because the Moon’s gravitational
fiedl is too weak to retain an atmosphere.
______ (A) there is no
______ (B) where no
______ (C) no
______ (D) is no
15. The Glass Mountain of northwestern Oklahoma _____ with
fleck of gysum, which shine in the sunlight.
______ (A) they are covered
______ (B) covered them
______ (C) that are covered
______ (D) are covered
20. 16. Every computer consist of a number of systems ______
togheter.
______ (A) by working
______ (B) work
______ (C) they work
______ (D) that work
17. In some cases, ______ to decide if an organism is a plant or
an animal.
______ (A) difficult if
______ (B) it is difficult
______ (C) the difficulty
______ (D) is difficult
21. 18. The first American novelist to have a major impact on the
world literature ______.
______ (A) who was James Fenimore Cooper.
______ (B) James Fenimore Cooper was.
______ (C) it was James Fenimore Cooper.
______ (D) was James Fenimore Cooper.
19. _____ important railroad tunel in the United States was cut
through the Hoosac Mountains in Massachusetts.
______ (A) At first
______ (B) It was the first
______ (C) The first
______ (D) As the first of
22. 20. Generally, ______ in the valleys and foothills of the Pacific
Coast ranges.
______ (A) the California poppy grown
______ (B) the growth of the California poppy
______ (C) the California poppy grows
______ (D) growing the California poppy
21. When bats are at rest, _____ hang upside-down.
______ (A) they
______ (B) and
______ (C) to
______ (D) as
23. 22. ______ that the capital of South Carolina was moved from
Charleston to Columbia.
______ (A) In 1790 was
______ (B) There was in 1790
______ (C) In 1790
______ (D) It was in 1790
23. Although not as important as they once were, _____ a major
form of transportation in North America.
______ (A) there are still railroads
______ (B) railroads, which are still
______ (C) railroads are still
______ (D) railroads still being
24. 24. ______ amino acids that serve as the basic building blocks of
all proteins.
______ (A) About twenty
______ (B) For about twenty of
______ (C) About twenty are
______ (D) There are about twenty
25. The Loop, which is the commercial heart of Chicago, _____
within a rectangular loop of elevated train tracks.
______ (A) that is enclosed
______ (B) enclosing it
______ (C) is enclosed
______ (D) enclosed
