Lesson: Parts of Speech - Clauses

Comment on Parts of Speech - Clauses

clear

At 2:31
Can "My barber sued me because" and "I used the wrong conditioner" be the dependent and independent clauses, respectively?
gmat-admin's picture

No. The word "because" must be attached to the clause that CAUSES some consequence (in fact, the word "cause" is part of the word "because").
In other words, event B occurs BECAUSE event A occurs.
In this case, the lawsuit (event B) was caused by the use of some conditioner (event A), so "because" is attached to the second clause.
Likewise, we might say, "Because I used the wrong conditioner, my barber sued me."
Does that help?
Cheers,
Brent

Understood.
Thanks!

Will one ever have a GMAT question where there are two independent clauses and I have to pick the BEST answer - an ans choice that uses a semicolon vs. one separated with comma and a coordinating conjunction?

Will the latter always be the top choice?
gmat-admin's picture

I've never seen an official GMAT question that makes you choose between those two options. I'm pretty sure they'd never do that.

Hello Brent , In the sentence my barber sued me because I used the wrong conditioner .... can " I used the wrong conditioner "not be considered as a independent clause and " My barber sued me because" be a dependent clause ??
gmat-admin's picture

The word "because" is more appropriately associated with "I used the wrong conditioner"

To see what I mean, let's see what happens if we try to reverse the order of this sentence. We get: "Because I used the wrong conditioner, my barber sued me."

That said, I don't think this distinction (regarding which clause "because" belongs to) is ever tested on the GMAT.

Brent, how are you?

Do you have any lists of exercise regarding punctuation and linking clauses?

Thank you!
gmat-admin's picture

Hey Pedro,

Sorry, I don't have any such linked exercises. I wouldn't worry about that; it's very unlikely that a GMAT question would hinge on that kind of punctuation.

Cheers,
Brent

The setence where you explain " who climbed mount everest twice" -- just to understand better -- who is the subject, climbed is the verb, Mt. Everst is the object and is twice the advert modifying climb? since he Climbed Twice. Let me know, thanks!
gmat-admin's picture

You're entirely correct.

..., WHO (subject who performed the action of climbing) CLIMBED (verb) MOUNT EVEREST (noun/object) TWICE (adverb telling us more about the verb CLIMBED)

Cheers,
Brent

Are coordinating conjunctions the same as prepositions?
gmat-admin's picture

No. Coordinating conjunctions connect two independent clauses, whereas prepositions connect a noun with more information about that noun.

What do you mean by saying two independent clauses are related then the clauses are separated by semicolon? Related means how?
gmat-admin's picture

If we have two independent clauses that have no relationship whatsoever, it makes more sense to use a period to separate them.

Consider these two independent clauses:
- Joe likes hockey
- Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system

Since each clause has nothing to do with the other clause, it doesn't make any sense to use a semicolon to create one sentence (with two totally separate ideas) as in: Joe likes hockey; Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.

Does that help?

https://gmatclub.com/forum/between-1990-and-2000-the-global-economy-grew-more-than-it-did-during-24214.html

In option D, does 'it' refer to 'The growth of the global economy between 1990 and 2000' or 'The growth of the global economy' or 'The growth'?

Thanks you!
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/between-1990-and-2000-the-global-economy-grew...

(D) The growth of the global economy between 1990 and 2000 exceeds what IT has been for 10,000 years, from when agriculture began to 1950.
Here, IT refers to the GROWTH.
The prepositional phrase "of the global economy" modifies GROWTH (Q: What kind of growth? A: The growth of the global economy.)

Hi Brent,

I need help with understanding how the answer is A and why the other options are wrong? Not able to find suitable responses in the comments.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-1776-adam-smith-wrote-that-it-is-young-people-who-have-the-contemp-242646.html
gmat-admin's picture

Question link: https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-1776-adam-smith-wrote-that-it-is-young-peo...

In 1776 Adam Smith wrote that it is young people who have “the contempt of risk and the presumptuous hope of success” needed to found new businesses.

(A) who have
(B) with
(C) having
(D) who are those with
(E) who are the ones to have

A concise way to write the sentence would be: Adam Smith wrote that young people have “the bravery” needed to found new businesses.
Notice that "young people have “the bravery” needed to found new businesses" is a clause because it has a subject (young people) and a verb (have)

The addition of IT IS requires the additional WHO, so we get: Adam Smith wrote that it is young people who have “the bravery” needed to found new businesses.
Notice that "who have “the bravery” needed to found new businesses" is a clause because it has a subject (WHO, which stands for "young people") and a verb (have).

Now let's check the other answer choices....
B) Adam Smith wrote that it is young people with “the bravery” needed to found new businesses.
We no longer have a clause since we're missing a verb to go with YOUNG PEOPLE

C) Adam Smith wrote that it is young people having “the bravery” needed to found new businesses.
In this case HAVING functions as a participle.
So, we no longer have a clause since we're missing a verb to go with YOUNG PEOPLE

D and E are unnecessarily wordy/redundant.

Does that help?

Hi Brent,

Thank you for the response. Is it necessary for the sentence after " Adam wrote" to be a clause. Since it does not express a complete thought, it can be a sentence without a verb.

Does this make sense?
gmat-admin's picture

Here we have a relative clause beginning with THAT.
So, we need a verb and a subject.
More here: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat-sentence-correction/video/1164

"Sartre, an inadvertent guru, had an opinion on everything, painfully considered, elaboratedly reasoned, often changed"
Why isn't this considered dangling? I feel like conjunction word is needed to connect "often changed"
gmat-admin's picture

This question has caused a lot of consternation.
I will refer you to GMAT ninjas reply: https://gmatclub.com/forum/sartre-an-inadvertent-guru-had-an-opinion-on-...

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