2.8 Clauses

A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate. There are two types of clauses, independent clauses and dependent clauses.

A dependent clause contains a subject and a predicate, but because it is introduced by a subordinating word it does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone as a sentence. It must always be accompanied by at least one independent clause.

Independent clauses can stand alone as sentences. To be independent, a clause must contain a verb and a subject and not begin with a subordinating word or phrase.

Some clauses contain a verb and a subject but begin with a subordinating word or phrase (such as because or while) that expresses a close connection to another clause. Such subordinating elements convert clauses into dependent clauses, which cannot stand alone as sentences.

A sentence must contain at least one independent clause; it may contain one or more dependent clauses. The independent clause in the sentence is called the main clause:

Although the pace of technological innovation has been impressively brisk, whether the materials will make an impact on commerce remains unclear (The clause in italics is the independent clause).

Lecture 3. Punctuation

3.1 Is Punctuation Really Important?

Contrary to widespread opinion, punctuation rules are important in scientific and technical reporting. Because punctuation marks are devised to eliminate ambiguities, they should be applied prudently and consistently. Mistakes in punctuation and haphazard use of punctuation marks undercut the authority of the text and therefore compromise the credibility of the work.

One may be tempted to ask whether such a small moment of disturbance is really very important. By itself, a single omitted comma is not a disaster; but a text that frequently omits punctuation becomes a struggle to read.

Supporters of ‘light’ punctuation (which usually seems to mean the use of full stops, but not much else) sometimes argue that careful wording of sentences is enough to make clear the meaning and tone intended. Of course, the position occupied by each word in a sentence is an important indication of the role to be played by that word. But as the examples may show, accurate positioning of words is not enough by itself: to decode messages easily and accurately, readers need additional information from punctuation marks.

Punctuation marks are integral parts of the code on which written communication is based. That code consists of three sets of agreements or rules:

- about individual words (lexical rules);

- about word order (grammatical rules);

- about how to signal grammatical/logical information and rhetorical information (in speech, rules of intonation and stress; in writing, rules of punctuation).

We have agreements about which sounds or symbols we shall use to express things, actions, and ideas (examples: word, write, communication). We have agreements about the order in which we shall arrange words to make statements (example: In order to communicate, 1 speak or write words in an agreed sequence). But these alone are not enough. We cannot just string words together in a continuous outpouring of sounds or as an unmarked string of hieroglyphics on paper. We have to show the relationships between the words. The following sets of sentences have the same words, but do not have the same meanings:

Set 1

1. Hit the man using your brother’s chair.

2. Hit the man, using your brother’s chair.

3. Hit the man using your brothers’ chair.

Set 2

1. Insert the old disk into the disk drive with the notch at the bottom and the label on the left.

2. Insert the old disk into the disk drive, with the notch at the bottom and the label on the left.

3. Insert the ‘old’ disk into the disk drive, with the notch at the bottom and the label on the left.

In speech, we emphasize differences of meaning by changes of tone, changes in inter­word spacing, and by placing stress on different syllables and/or in different positions in a sentence. In writing, we have to supply marks on paper in place of the voice signals we would use if we were speaking. As these two sets of examples show, the presence or the absence of a mark can be a signal that indicates the part to be played by a word-group in a sentence.

In Set 1, the function of the word-group using your brother’s chair is changed by the presence or absence of the comma. In sentence (1), it defines which man we should hit (its function is adjectival, modifying man); in sentence (2), it tells us how we should hit him (its function is adverbial, modifying hit). In sentence (2), the placing of the apostrophe acknowledges that we have just one brother; in sentence (3), it acknowledges that we have more than one brother.

In Set 2, the function of the with…group is changed by the presence or absence of the comma. In sentence (1), it tells us that the disk drive has the notch at the bottom and the label on the left (its function is adjectival, modifying drive); in sentence (2), it tells us how to insert the disk (its function is adverbial, modifying insert). In sentence (3), we see the use of inverted commas (quotation marks) to fulfill a rhetorical function—to express a certain tone in addition to the basic meaning of old. The presence of the inverted commas signals that the writer is using the word old in an unusual way: he or she wishes to signal that the disk is not truly old, but that old is the term allocated to it for the current discussion.

The comma is not the only punctuation mark the absence or presence of which us makes the writing distracting and confusing.

For example, the collocation of words without hyphens makes such nonsense that readers have a difficulty in detecting the intended meaning:

He observed that bacteria carrying dust particles decreased in concentration as the humidity decreased.

(bacteria-carrying)

…can be present in boron containing steels

(boron-containing)

Taking off gases from the esterifiers…

(off-gases)

Absence of commas, especially to mark off words and clauses at the beginning of statements, is another regular source of ambiguity and irritation. In each of the following pairs, the writer wrote the first but meant the second:

Frequently adjusted totals need to be scrutinized.

(Frequently, adjusted)

In all these examples, the writers have put their words in suitable sequences; but they have failed to signal to us explicitly two important categories of information:

- the relationships they intend between words and word-groups;

- the boundaries between significant word-groups.

As an example of punctuation marks being vital to clear signalling of relations between word-groups, consider the statement:

He observed that bacteria carrying dust particles decreased in concentration.

The words as they stand indicate the following relationships in the word-group beginning with that:

bacteria is the subject

carrying dust particles is an adjectival group describing the bacteria

decreased is the verb, telling us what happened to the bacteria.

When a hyphen is placed between bacteria and carrying the relationships between the words are changed:

particles is the subject

dust is an adjective describing the particles

bacteria-carrying is an adjectival group describing the particles

decreased is the verb, telling us what happened to the dust particles.

As an example of punctuation marks being vital to clear signalling of boundaries between significant word-groups, consider the sentence:

As the machine develops the forms we need to record data from past projects will be amended.

When you read those words for the first time, you take the group the forms to be the object of the verb develops. Then you search for the first significant group in the string of words, and your eyes and mind ‘close’ round as the machine develops the forms. They go on to add we need and to record data from past projects, so you assemble in my mind the interpretation:

As the machine develops the forms we need to record data from past projects…

But then you arrive at will be amended. Immediately, it is clear that you have misinterpreted the first part of the sentence. You have missed the intended boundary between develops and forms:

As the machine develops, the forms we need to record data from past projects will be amended.

Of course, your mind make the necessary adjustments in much less time than it has taken us to discuss these two examples of unpunctuated text. But on each occasion, the inexpert writing disturbs for a moment your concentration on the argument the writer is presenting.

Thus, the prose is punctuated in order to help clarify how words, clauses, and sentences fit together. Many scientific and technical organizations have detailed style guides outlining appropriate and inappropriate uses of punctuation for technical documents in their respective disciplines. If there is in the particular field you’re working, follow it.

Apart from capital letters and full stops (periods / dots), the most common punctuation marks in technical and scientific writing are: comma, colon, semi-colon, parenthesis (round brackets) / brackets [square brackets] / braces (formerly used in mathematical equations), dash, hyphen, apostrophe, slash.