This document discusses different types of clauses in English sentences. An independent clause can stand alone as a complete thought and sentence, while a subordinate clause does not express a complete thought on its own and must be part of a larger sentence. Subordinate clauses are introduced by subordinating conjunctions like "when", "because", and "before", and cannot stand alone as fragments without an independent clause. Determining if a clause is independent or subordinate can be tested by adding "I believe that..." before it - if it sounds like a complete sentence, it is independent, and if it sounds like a fragment, it is subordinate.

1. Dependent & Subordinate Clauses English I