COMMUNICATION CONCEPTS AND SKILLS IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO PHILOLOGICAL FACULTIES
A dependent clause is characterized by having a subject and predicate with a word or phrase that links the function of that clause to another clause, causing the first clause to become dependent upon the other clause for its greater meaning. The key here is the addition of some word or phrase that causes the entire clause to function in a broader sense, such as cause or background.
"Because it was my birthday, my mother baked a cake." "Although its bloodline consisted of two Dalmatians, the dog was brown." Possibly seen as not quite a clause combination, the simple sentence type is simply a single independent clause.
"The world swarmed tonight by the sound of stars." "The cost of the battle was too great to not number." In grammar, conditional sentencesare sentences discussing factual implications or hypothetical situations and their consequences. Languages use a variety of conditional constructions and verb forms (such as the conditional mood) to form such sentences. Full conditional sentences contain two clauses: the condition or protasis, and the consequence or apodosis.
If it rains [condition], (then) the picnic will be cancelled [consequence].
Syntactically, the condition is the subordinate clause, and the consequence is the main clause. However, the properties of the entire sentence are primarily determined by the properties of the protasis (condition) (its tense and degree of factualness). English conditional sentences can be divided into the two broad classes of factual/predictive and hypothetical (counterfactual), depending on the form of the verb in the condition (protasis). The terms "factual" and "counterfactual" broadly correspond to the linguistic modalities called realis and irrealis.
In factualconstructions, the condition clause expresses a condition the truth of which is unverified. The verb in the condition clause is in the past tense (with a past tense interpretation) or in the present tense (with a present or future tense interpretation). The result clause can be in the past, present, or future. Generally, conditional sentences of this group are in two groups, the "zero conditional" and the potential or indicative conditional, often called "first conditional" or "conditional 1". This class includes universal statements (both clauses in the present, or both clauses in the past) and predictions. The "zero" conditional is formed with both clauses in the present tense. This construction is similar across many languages. It is used to express a certainty, a universal statement, a law of science, etc.:
If you heat water to 100 degrees celsius, it boils. If you don't eat for a long time, you become hungry. If the sea is stormy, the waves are high. It is different from true conditionals because the introductory "if" can be replaced by "when" or "whenever" (e.g., "When you heat water..."), which cannot be done for true conditionals. The potential or indicative conditional, often referred to as the "first conditional" or "conditional 1", is used more generally to express a hypothetical condition that is potentially true, but not yet verified. The conditional clause is in the present or past tense and refers to a state or event in the past. The result can be in the past, present, or future. Some examples with the condition clause in the past tense:
If she took that flight yesterday, she arrived at 10pm. If she took that flight yesterday, she is somewhere in town today. If she took that flight yesterday, we'll see her tomorrow. A condition clause (protasis) in the present tense refers to a future event, a current event which may be true or untrue, or an event which could be verified in the future. The result can be in the past, present, or future:
If it's raining here now, then it was raining on the West Coast this morning.