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Grammar

Dependent Clauses: A Complete Guide

Dependent clauses add detail, context, and complexity to writing by expressing relationships between ideas. Learn how to use them correctly to enhance your writing.

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Introduction

Our text compare tool is a fantastic, lightweight tool that provides plagiarism checks between two documents. Whether you are a student, blogger or publisher, this tool offers a great solution to detect and compare similarities between any two pieces of text. In this article, I will discuss the different ways to use the tool, the primary features of the tool and who this tool is for. There is an FAQ at the bottom if you run into any issues when trying to use the tool.

What makes Originality.ai’s text comparison tool stand out?

Keyword density helper – This tool comes with a built-in keyword density helper in some ways similar to the likes of SurferSEO or MarketMuse the difference being, ours is free! This feature shows the user the frequency of single or two word keywords in a document, meaning you can easily compare an article you have written against a competitor to see the major differences in keyword densities. This is especially useful for SEO’s who are looking to optimize their blog content for search engines and improve the blog’s visibility.

Ways to compare

File compare – Text comparison between files is a breeze with our tool. Simply select the files you would like to compare, hit “Upload” and our tool will automatically insert the content into the text area, then simply hit “Compare” and let our tool show you where the differences in the text are. By uploading a file, you can still check the keyword density in your content.

URL compare

Comparing text between URLs is effortless with our tool. Simply paste the URL you would like to get the content from (in our example we use a fantastic blog post by Sherice Jacob found here) hit “Submit URL” and our tool will automatically retrieve the contents of the page and paste it into the text area, then simply click “Compare” and let our tool highlight the difference between the URLs. This feature is especially useful for checking keyword density between pages!

Simple text compare

You can also easily compare text by copying and pasting it into each field, as demonstrated below.

Features of Originality.ai’s Text Compare Tool

Ease of use

Our text compare tool is created with the user in mind, it is designed to be accessible to everyone. Our tool allows users to upload files or enter a URL to extract text, this along with the lightweight design ensures a seamless experience. The interface is simple and straightforward, making it easy for users to compare text and detect the diff.

Multiple text file format support

Our tool provides support for a variety of different text files and microsoft word formats including pdf file, .docx, .odt, .doc, and .txt, giving users the ability to compare text from different sources with ease. This makes it a great solution for students, bloggers, and publishers who are looking for file comparison in different formats.

Protects intellectual property

Our text comparison tool helps you protect your intellectual property and helps prevent plagiarism. This tool provides an accurate comparison of texts, making it easy to ensure that your work is original and not copied from other sources. Our tool is a valuable resource for anyone looking to maintain the originality of their content.

User Data Privacy

Our text compare tool is secure and protects user data privacy. No data is ever saved to the tool, the users’ text is only scanned and pasted into the tool’s text area. This makes certain that users can use our tool with confidence, knowing their data is safe and secure.

Compatibility

Our text comparison tool is designed to work seamlessly across all size devices, ensuring maximum compatibility no matter your screen size. Whether you are using a large desktop monitor, a small laptop, a tablet or a smartphone, this tool adjusts to your screen size. This means that users can compare texts and detect the diff anywhere without the need for specialized hardware or software. This level of accessibility makes it an ideal solution for students or bloggers who value the originality of their work and need to compare text online anywhere at any time.

A dependent clause, also called a subordinate clause, is a grammatical construction with a subject and a predicate — but it doesn’t express a complete thought. 

These clauses are called dependent because they must be tied to an independent clause to form a complete sentence. When properly supported by an independent clause, dependent clauses add detail, complexity, and context to sentences.

Make reviewing independent and dependent clauses a breeze with the Originality.ai Grammar Checker. Catch common spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors and publish with confidence.

What Makes a Clause Dependent?

A clause is a grammatical construction with a subject and a predicate. 

  • Independent clauses are complete on their own and can stand as a sentence.
  • Dependent clauses contain a subordinating word, which makes them dependent (or subordinate) clauses. 
  • Subordinating words are introductory words, such as because, when, if, and although.

Independent clause: 

  • You can borrow my espresso machine. (subject: you, predicate: can borrow my espresso machine.
  • You want great coffee. (subject: you, predicate: want great coffee)

Dependent clause: 

  • If you want great coffee (subject: you, predicate: want great coffee, subordinating word: if)

Dependent clause + independent clause:

  • If you want great coffee, you can borrow my espresso machine.

Dependent clauses vs. sentence fragments

Dependent clauses must be attached to an independent clause to be part of a complete sentence. Still, they are not sentence fragments, which often lack a subordinating word and have something else that makes the thought incomplete:

Sentence Fragment: You want great 

This isn’t a subordinate clause. It’s a fragment because it has a subject (you) and a predicate (great), but “great” is left hanging without a noun to modify. That is what makes it a fragment; the thought is incomplete. 

Why Are Independent Clauses Necessary?

Since dependent clauses can’t function alone, one might think they are weak or unnecessary in writing. Not so. Dependent clauses might not be able to stand alone, but they combine with independent clauses to undertake some important roles in grammar. 

Adding cause and effect

Some subordinating words make a clause dependent or subordinate, including because, since, as, and so that. 

Those same words show cause and effect. They add the “why” to many sentences, providing valuable information, detail and context to writing:

  • You should borrow my espresso machine because it makes great coffee.
  • Since I drank too much coffee, I was unable to sleep last night.
  • I took a nap so that I wouldn’t need to drink more coffee. 
  • As the coffee brewed, the house filled with a wonderful aroma.

Expressing temporal relationships 

Other subordinating conjunctions — when, before, after, since, while, until — help a dependent clause to express the relationship in time between two events or actions. 

  • I was hiking for miles before I finally tired out.
  • I’ll keep working until it’s time to go out for coffee
  • After two hours in class, I just couldn’t focus anymore.

Dependent clauses add to the story by bringing context and connection.

Expressing conditions 

Subordinating conjunctions like if, in case, even if and unless help express conditions:

  • If you bring me a coffee, I’ll go with you to the early meeting.
  • I won’t go to that meeting unless you bring me coffee
  • I won’t go to that meeting even if you bring me coffee.

It’s easy to see how the dependent clauses add detail and complexity to a thought by adding conditions.

Showing contrast

Dependent clauses with although, even though, though and whereas reveal the contrast between things:

  • Although the meeting was early, it was pretty engaging.
  • Though it starred my favorite actor, the movie was terrible.
  • Even though I drank coffee, I couldn’t stay awake.

Dependent clauses contribute to sentence variety

Dependent clauses are also important because they are essential in building more complex sentences. They can connect with independent clauses to form complex and compound-complex sentences, providing the variation in sentence length and structure that makes language interesting. In this way, dependent clauses add depth and flow to writing.

Dependent Clauses in Compound and Complex Sentences

Without a dependent clause, a writer cannot form a complex or compound-complex sentence. 

To form a complex sentence, a dependent clause needs an independent clause to hold onto. 

Sentence Type Construction Example
Complex one independent + one or more dependent She won’t go to the meeting because it’s just too early.

To form a compound-complex sentence, a dependent clause needs two or more independent clauses connected with a “coordinating conjunction” (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).

The independent clause, “She won’t go to the meeting” has more context when dependent clauses are brought in to provide information.

Sentence Type Construction Example
Compound-Complex two or more independent + at least one dependent +
“coordinating conjunctions”
She won’t go to the meeting because it’s just too early, “but”
her boss won’t be happy about it.

Final Thoughts

While the concept of a dependent clause may seem basic, it’s easy to see just how much this grammatical structure brings to writing. 

Without dependent clauses, writers would only have simple and compound sentences. Writing would sound choppier, have less flow, and lose the layers of meaning and connection that dependent clauses add. 

Review your writing and make editing a breeze with the Originality.ai Grammar Checker.

Then, get more insight into proper grammar practices in our guides:

Melissa Fanella

Melissa Fanella is a writer, editor, and marketing professional with over 15 years of experience in content and messaging for businesses and nonprofits. Her expertise is in crafting authentic, people-first content that is compelling and engaging for audiences and positioned for business goals.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it important to check for plagiarism?

Tools for conducting a plagiarism check between two documents online are important as it helps to ensure the originality and authenticity of written work. Plagiarism undermines the value of professional and educational institutions, as well as the integrity of the authors who write articles. By checking for plagiarism, you can ensure the work that you produce is original or properly attributed to the original author. This helps prevent the distribution of copied and misrepresented information.

What is Text Comparison?

Text comparison is the process of taking two or more pieces of text and comparing them to see if there are any similarities, differences and/or plagiarism. The objective of a text comparison is to see if one of the texts has been copied or paraphrased from another text. This text compare tool for plagiarism check between two documents has been built to help you streamline that process by finding the discrepancies with ease.

How do Text Comparison Tools Work?

Text comparison tools work by analyzing and comparing the contents of two or more text documents to find similarities and differences between them. This is typically done by breaking the texts down into smaller units such as sentences or phrases, and then calculating a similarity score based on the number of identical or nearly identical units. The comparison may be based on the exact wording of the text, or it may take into account synonyms and other variations in language. The results of the comparison are usually presented in the form of a report or visual representation, highlighting the similarities and differences between the texts.

String comparison is a fundamental operation in text comparison tools that involves comparing two sequences of characters to determine if they are identical or not. This comparison can be done at the character level or at a higher level, such as the word or sentence level.

The most basic form of string comparison is the equality test, where the two strings are compared character by character and a Boolean result indicating whether they are equal or not is returned. More sophisticated string comparison algorithms use heuristics and statistical models to determine the similarity between two strings, even if they are not exactly the same. These algorithms often use techniques such as edit distance, which measures the minimum number of operations (such as insertions, deletions, and substitutions) required to transform one string into another.

Another common technique for string comparison is n-gram analysis, where the strings are divided into overlapping sequences of characters (n-grams) and the frequency of each n-gram is compared between the two strings. This allows for a more nuanced comparison that takes into account partial similarities, rather than just exact matches.

String comparison is a crucial component of text comparison tools, as it forms the basis for determining the similarities and differences between texts. The results of the string comparison can then be used to generate a report or visual representation of the similarities and differences between the texts.

What is Syntax Highlighting?

Syntax highlighting is a feature of text editors and integrated development environments (IDEs) that helps to visually distinguish different elements of a code or markup language. It does this by coloring different elements of the code, such as keywords, variables, functions, and operators, based on a predefined set of rules.

The purpose of syntax highlighting is to make the code easier to read and understand, by drawing attention to the different elements and their structure. For example, keywords may be colored in a different hue to emphasize their importance, while comments or strings may be colored differently to distinguish them from the code itself. This helps to make the code more readable, reducing the cognitive load of the reader and making it easier to identify potential syntax errors.

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What Are the Benefits of Using a Text Compare Tool?

Using text comparison tools is much easier, more efficient, and more reliable than proofreading a piece of text by hand. Eliminate the risk of human error by using a tool to detect and display the text difference within seconds.

What Files Can You Inspect with This Text Compare Tool?

We have support for the file extensions .pdf, .docx, .odt, .doc and .txt. You can also enter your text or copy and paste text to compare.

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There is never any data saved by the tool, when you hit “Upload” we are just scanning the text and pasting it into our text area so with our text compare tool, no data ever enters our servers.

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