NYSTCE English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Practice Test

Which grammatical structure cannot stand alone as its own sentence?

1. Independent clause

2. Simple sentence

3. Complex sentence

4. Dependent clause

The correct answer is: Dependent clause

A dependent clause cannot stand alone as its own sentence because it does not express a complete thought. Instead, it relies on an independent clause to provide meaning and context. For instance, in the sentence "Although it was raining," the clause "Although it was raining" is dependent because it leaves the reader expecting additional information to complete the idea. In contrast, independent clauses, simple sentences, and complex sentences can all stand alone since they convey a complete thought and do not require additional information to be understood. An independent clause contains a subject and a verb and can serve as a full sentence, while a simple sentence is a type of independent clause that consists of a single subject-verb pair. A complex sentence contains at least one independent clause and one dependent clause, but the independent clause makes it a complete sentence.