Independent Cluase and Depenent Cluase

Question

What is the independent clause and dependent clause of the following :

However, Chuck Tompkins, head of animal training at all SeaWorld parks, said Brancheau was rubbing the whale after a show when the whale grabbed her and pulled her in, the Associated Press reported.

is there more than one independent clause?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

What is the independent clause and dependent clause of the following :

However, Chuck Tompkins, head of animal training at all SeaWorld parks, said Brancheau was rubbing the whale after a show when the whale grabbed her and pulled her in, the Associated Press reported.

is there more than one independent clause? No.

Would you like to begin by trying to identify as many clauses as you can? Then we can check your results for you.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Independent Cluase: Associated Press/reported, Brancheau/was rubbing
Dependent Cluase: CHuck Tompkins/said, whale/grabbed, whale/pulled

Is this right?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

However, Chuck Tompkins, head of animal training at all SeaWorld parks, said Brancheau was rubbing the whale after a show when the whale grabbed her and pulled her in, the Associated Press reported.

The only independent (main) clause is 'the Associated Press reported'. You see this more clearly if you rearrange the sentence in this order:

However, the Associated Press reported that Chuck Tompkins, head of animal training at all SeaWorld parks, said Brancheau was rubbing the whale after a show when the whale grabbed her and pulled her in.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Hi, Thank you so much for your response. I posted another question on another posting..but the people that are responding are confusing me...so can you just check my answers. I am looking for the independent and dependent clauses again . Looking at your above answers, I think this is correct for:

green = independent clause red = dependent

1. An experienced animal trainer was killed Wednesday in an accident with a killer whale at SeaWrold in Orlando, law enforement and park officials said.

2. "One of our most experienced trainers drowned in an incident with one of the killer whales," he said.

Is this correct??? I really hope i understand this!

Thank you sooooo much.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

It's very often best to consider very simple examples, like these.

Mary cooked dinner, Tom said.

This is indirect speech.

This can be rearranged as Tom said that Mary cooked dinner.

Here, the independent or main clause is Tom said.

Mary cooked dinner is a subordinate or dependent clause.

Now let's look at this example.

Tom said "Mary cooked dinner".

This is direct speech.

Tom said is an independent or main clause. I don't think you grasp this.

You could say that its object is whatever is between the quotation marks.

However, the part that is between the quotation marks, ie "Mary cooked dinner", is normally treated as a separate sentence. In this example, it consists of just an independent or main clause. Dependent or subordinate clauses could be added to it, eg "Mary cooked dinner, which was delicious".

Would you like any further explanation about this?

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Hello Clive, I thought that was what I did.

1. An experienced animal trainer was killed Wednesday in an accident with a killer whale at SeaWrold in Orlando, law enforement and park officials said.

This can be rearraged to: Law enforcement and Park officials said that an experienced animal trainer was killed Wednesday in an accident with a killer whale at SeaWrold in Orlando.

So the independent/main clause is "an experienced animal trainer was killed Wednesday in an accident with a killer whale at SeaWrold in Orlando" and the "law enforcemetn and Park officials said" is the dependent.

2. "One of our most experienced trainers drowned in an incident with one of the killer whales," he said.

I rearraged it to: He said "One of our most experienced trainers drowned in an incident with one of the killer whales." This is direct speech and He said is independent clause.

I guess I need further explaination on this. I am so sorry I dont understand...

Clive · Answer

Hi,

1. An experienced animal trainer was killed Wednesday in an accident with a killer whale at SeaWrold in Orlando, law enforement and park officials said.

This can be rearraged to: Law enforcement and Park officials said that an experienced animal trainer was killed Wednesday in an accident with a killer whale at SeaWrold in Orlando. Yes

So the independent/main clause is "an experienced animal trainer was killed Wednesday in an accident with a killer whale at SeaWrold in Orlando" and the "law enforcemetn and Park officials said" is the dependent. No, it's the other way around.

The main idea of the sentence is

Law enforcement and Park officials said something.

What they said is the dependent information.

2. "One of our most experienced trainers drowned in an incident with one of the killer whales," he said.

I rearraged it to: He said "One of our most experienced trainers drowned in an incident with one of the killer whales." This is direct speech and He said is independent clause. Yes.

But with direct speech, we also treat the part in quotation marks as a separate sentence, so this is an independent clause as well.

I guess I need further explaination on this. I am so sorry I dont understand... Don't worry. Englsih is not easy to learn.

I think you are still a bit shaky with these ideas. Ask me for more help if you are still unclear.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you so much Clive, I think I grasped the concept..somewhat. If anything, I'll ask my professor, though I did email her first and she still has not replied to me...but thank you again for answering my question and teaching me. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/4.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/4.gif' alt='Emotion: stick out tongue'/>

Independent Cluase and Depenent Cluase

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