An independent clause (or main clause) is a group of words containing a subject and a predicate that can stand alone as a separate sentence.

My grades were not as good as I had expected, although I did pass every class.

The second, unitalicized clause in the example is a dependent clause; although it contains a subject and predicate, it cannot stand alone as a sentence. (For combinations of dependent and independent clauses, see sentence types.)

 

 

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