Study the sentence below. How many complete ideas are expressed in this sentence?

I have the mats with me, and they are beautiful.

If you were to break the sentence into two, there are two complete ideas expressed that are connected by the word and.

I have the mats with me, and they are beautiful.

Each group of words that is a complete idea is called a clause. A clause is a closely related group of words that includes both a subject and a verb. A simple sentence is also called an independent clause. Sentences with two independent clauses or two simple sentences joined together are also called compound sentences. Compound sentences are joined together by coordinating conjunctions.

Coordinating Conjunctions
For	But
And	Or
Nor	Yet
	So

Now, study the sentence below. Do the clauses express a complete thought?

Clause 1	Clause 2
It was a beautiful mat	that mother received as her wedding gift.

Which of the two clauses cannot stand alone? What does the second clause describe or refer to?

Clause 2 merely describes the mat, but cannot stand alone as a sentence. In the sentence, Clause 1 is an independent clause while Clause 2 is a dependent clause. A dependent clause cannot stand alone even if it has a subject and verb because it does not have a complete thought.

Sentences that have dependent and independent clauses are called complex sentences.

Remember these:

Independent clause + independent clause = compound sentence

Independent clause + dependent clause = complex sentence