Grammarly is an app that corrects grammatical errors in your writing. It also helps you improve your writing by providing suggestions. It can help you write better emails, texts, and even novels.
Unlike some grammar checking tools, it also helps you understand why your writing is incorrect. For example, it can explain the difference between that and which.
What is a clause?
A clause is a group of words that functions as one part of speech and includes both a subject and a verb. This differs from a phrase, which is used to add extra information and cannot stand alone. Occasionally, a clause can act as a sentence, but most of the time it is a dependent clause that requires another construction to fully express its idea. For example, ‘Shelby jogs after class’ can be a complete thought on its own, but ‘Shelby jogs because she is worried about her grades’ is not.
Dependent clauses are always joined to independent clauses and can be used in a variety of ways to form complex sentences. They can also be used to modify adjectives, verbs, and other clauses. This makes them an important tool for writers to use.
To be considered a clause, it must have a subject (noun or pronoun) and a finite verb. The subject is generally a person or animal, but it can also be a thing or idea. The subject is then connected to the verb by a phrase, such as ‘to be’ or ‘to have’.
There are a few different types of clauses in English, and it can be tricky to understand the difference between them. The most basic clauses are called independent or main clauses. They can stand on their own and express a complete thought. The next level up are dependent clauses, which need to be attached to an independent clause before they can function as a full sentence. Dependent clauses can start with words like how, that, and who, but they must contain a finite verb.
Then there are coordinating clauses, which combine two independent clauses into a single sentence. Coordinating clauses can also be difficult to master, but they are necessary for expressing complicated ideas and writing smoothly.
Restrictive clauses
If you’re a writer, you know that there are subtle inferences that readers and listeners make based on your word choice. These inferences can be influenced by your tone, your audience, and even the context you write in. But they can also be influenced by grammar rules that you’re not even aware of. Take, for example, the difference between the relative pronouns that and which. Both words introduce clauses that modify nouns, but they have slightly different functions. That and which are both used to introduce essential or non-essential clauses, but they differ in how they identify the nouns they modify.
That is often used to introduce restrictive clauses, or those that limit the meaning of a noun. For instance, a person who loves books may prefer those that are written by their favorite authors. But if someone else also likes the same books, they would be okay reading them too. The key distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses is that the former limits the meaning of a noun, while the latter doesn’t.
It’s important to note that which underwent a period of decline at the end of the 17th century, but made a comeback several decades later. At that time, it was used much less frequently to introduce nonrestrictive clauses than it had been before.
Despite this, the usage of that to introduce non-restrictive clauses still exists today. However, it is considered incorrect to do so. It is best to use which only to introduce non-restrictive clauses that describe things or events.
For example, if there are multiple gyms within five minutes of your house, you can use that to specify the one with racquetball courts. But you wouldn’t use it to describe that all of the gyms have a racquetball court. This is because a non-restrictive clause describes something that isn’t essential to the sentence’s overall meaning. In this case, it’s better to simply omit the clause altogether.