Ten-Minute
Grammar
INDEPENDENT CLAUSES
INTRODUCTION:
Welcome to Ten-Minute Grammar! The goal of these units is to help students build a solid
understanding of grade-level grammar concepts during the first ten minutes of the class period each
day. Each unit goes through a progression in which new grammatical concepts are introduced (by
discovery, as much as possible), built upon, and then practiced and reviewed. In addition, the concepts
in each consecutive unit build on one another logically—it might seem silly to spend time reviewing
nouns and verbs with 8th graders, but it’s necessary if they’re going to understand things like gerunds
and infinitives or specific types of verb phrases.
The unit includes a week and a half of daily bell ringer activities, a quiz, and one or more additional
practice worksheets.
SUGGESTED TIMELINE:
 Start the Day One bell ringer on a Monday.
 By Friday, if you feel the class is ready for it, give the unit quiz.
o If you feel like the entire class needs additional practice to master the concept (or, let’s be
honest, if the next week is a short one and you don’t have time to start a new unit but
need bell ringers for a few extra days), there are three additional days’ worth of bell
ringers.
 After the quiz, a student who clearly failed to grasp one of the week’s concepts could be
assigned one of the practice worksheets. After completing the worksheet, the student could
retake the unit quiz for an improved grade.
o The worksheets can also be used during the week as extra practice for the entire class.
OBJECTIVES:
1. Students should understand that…
a. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and can stand alone as a
complete thought.
b. A complete sentence must contain at least one independent clause.
2. Students should be able to…
a. Identify independent clauses and distinguish them from fragments or dependent clauses.
b. Write examples of independent clauses.
KEYS TO THE UNIT:
One of the important keys for this unit is to limit the scope. When you start teaching independent
clauses, it feels natural to bring up subordinate clauses, compound sentences, run-on sentences, etc. The
problem is that this ends up being a new-term overload for the students. So for this week and a half,
focus just on getting the students to recognize what is and isn’t an independent clause.
The first worksheet focuses on the fact that independent clauses must have a subject and predicate
(which makes it a good review for past concepts.) The second worksheet focuses more on how
independent clauses must be able to stand alone. This worksheet has the students work on turning a
subordinate clause into an independent clause, but it isn’t necessary (or advisable) to start using the
terms “subordinate” or “dependent.” Save that for the next unit so the class focuses on one concept at
a time.
DAILY ROUTINE:
Have the day’s bell ringer activity up on a projector when the students come to class each day. I have
my students do the assignment on quarter sheets of paper (I cut them up and have a stack available
each day). Some days in each unit require copyediting; since it takes too long for students to copy the
incorrect sentences and then edit them, a page of quarter-size student answer sheets are provided for
those days (see the pages after the last bell ringer.)
Students should spend the first five minutes working silently (you should use that time to take roll and
then circulate around the room to keep kids on task.) After the five minutes of work time, spend the
next five minutes going over the answers. Don’t give them the answers (except as a last resort); you
want the students to volunteer their answers. Use the correction session each day to explain new
concepts, clarify ideas, and correct misconceptions. If a student volunteers an incorrect answer, find
someone else who can give the correct answer. Help the class understand the concept a little better
and then ask the first student a question like, “Explain to the class why your first answer was wrong.”
I’ve never had a student feel offended by this—if anything, it gives kids a chance to redeem themselves
after what might have been an embarrassing moment of being wrong in front of everyone.
If you use an overhead projector, a Smart Board, or project onto a white marker board, you can
choose a student each day to come to the front and write answers or corrections as other students
volunteer them.
In my class, students get full credit as long as they come up with an answer for every question, even if
some answers are incorrect. At the very least, for the first few days while new concepts are introduced,
students should be allowed to change their answers during the correction session—but only if they
already have an answer of their own. What we want is for them to try to figure out the answer. If
they get it wrong, they’ll learn when you set them straight in the correction session. But they learn
nothing if they just write down answers as you dictate them!
The Wordplay at the end of each day’s questions can be a way to earn extra credit if you choose. As
incentive to work quickly, I tell my students they can’t begin on the Wordplay until they’re finished
with the other questions, and I always offer a piece of candy to the first student to get the answer right
or the student with the best answer or most answers. (You’d be surprised what junior-high students
will do for a Starburst or a Jolly Rancher!)
LITERATURE:
This unit contains example selections from the novel Number
the Stars by Lois Lowry.
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
One
Independent Clauses
Decide whether each example below is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (answer YES or NO):
1. The little purple fairy. NO
2. She lived in the woods with all her fairy friends. YES
3. Her name was Violet. YES
4. Named after her great grandmother, the ugliest fairy in the forest. NO
5. Whenever someone calls Violet ugly. NO
6. Violet gets really mad, knocks the person out, and feeds him or her to
the nearest tree troll. YES
7. She has anger issues. YES
8. According to her fairy psychiatrist. NO
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 ANAGRAM: Rearrange the letters in the nonsense phrase below to
create new words that actually make sense.
ALL KEROSENE GLASS
(Hint: purple and gold ball players)
Los Angeles Lakers
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
Two
Independent Clauses
An INDEPENDENT CLAUSE is a group of words that can stand alone as a
sentence and must contain a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE.
Read each of the following excerpts from Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and decide if it has a
SUBJECT AND A PREDICATE (answer INDEPENDENT or NOT INDEPENDENT):
1. and now, three years later
NOT INDEPENDENT
2. King Christian was getting old INDEPENDENT
3. badly injured last year in a fall from his horse, faithful old Jubiee
NOT
INDEPENDENT
4. had carried him around Copenhagen so many mornings
NOT
INDEPENDENT
5. for days they thought he would die INDEPENDENT
6. and all of Denmark had mourned INDEPENDENT
This might be a good time to point out that it is NOT wrong to start a sentence (or an
independent clause) with the word AND or BUT. That’s a common misconception. Although
it’s not incorrect to start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction, it’s poor style to do it too
often.
Fill in the blank to complete the independent clause:
ANSWERS WILL VARY.
7. My new red bicycle ______can go faster than my old bike_______ .
8. ______A full-scale nuclear war_______ could destroy the entire planet.
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 DESCRAMBLER: Try to sort out the five scrambled words below:
YBBA GANOY FRTADE RNIGESW LUNKFNIG
Baby Agony Rafted Wingers Flunking
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
Three
Independent Clauses
In your own words…
1. What is an independent clause? A group of words that has a subject and
a predicate and can stand alone as a complete thought.
2. Why does every sentence need to have at least one independent clause?
Because without one independent clause, a sentence does not contain a
complete thought.
General Grammar Review:
ANSWERS WILL VARY.
3. Write an example of a past perfect verb phrase. had worked
4. Is “to win” a gerund or an infinitive? infinitive
An INDEPENDENT CLAUSE must sound complete and must be able to stand
alone as a full sentence.
Decide whether each example below is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (answer YES or NO):
5. That human and monkey DNA are very similar. NO
6. Researchers discovered something. YES
7. If I get a good grade in my science class. NO
For numbers 5 and 7, point out that if you just delete the “That” and the “If,” they will both be
independent clauses.
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 VOWEL COMBINATOR: The vowel combination “ow” can sound like the
hard “O” in “go” or the “ow” in “wow.” List as many words as you can that
contain “ow” making the hard “O” sound.
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
Four
Independent Clauses
Read the following excerpt from Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and then answer the following
questions:
(a) Mama and Papa never spoke of Lise. They never opened the trunk.
(b) But Annemarie did, when she was alone in the apartment; alone,
(c) she touched Lise’s things gently, remembering her soft-spoken sister
(d) who had looked forward so to marriage and children of her own.
1. How many independent clauses does line (a) contain? 2
2. Is the underlined portion of line (b) an independent clause? NO
3. Is the underlined portion of line (c) an independent clause? YES
4. Is the underlined portion of line (d) an independent clause? NO
Using the proper proofreading marks, correct the six errors in this excerpt:
whole
The hole world had changed. Only the fairy tales remained same. “And they
the
livedhappily ever after” Annemarie recited, whispering into the dark
sp.
completing the tale for her sister, who sleeped beside her.
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 CATALOGUE CREATOR: The suffix “-ment” means “act or instance of.” How
many words can you list that contain this suffix?
Ten-Minute
Grammar
QUIZ
DAY
Independent Clauses
REVIEW FOR TODAY’S QUIZ:
1. What is an independent clause?
2. What two parts does every independent clause have to have?
3. Identify which of the following are independent clauses:
a. My older brother.
b. Because he joined the army after high school.
c. He fought in Afghanistan for three years.
d. Got injured in a helicopter crash.
Extra
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
Five
Independent Clauses
Decide whether each example below is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (answer YES or NO):
1. Which wasn’t part of the plan. NO
2. Grandma makes the best pasta dishes. YES
3. The alligator’s dangerously sharp teeth. NO
4. After the team practiced for three hours. NO
5. The package includes over one hundred different fireworks! YES
6. Had just started raining. NO
Fill in the blank to complete the independent clause:
ANSWERS WILL VARY.
7. The movie, which was directed by Spielberg, ____won several Academy
Awards last year____ .
8. ___The track star was___ running as fast as his legs would carry him.
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 FOUR-LETTER WORDS: Take the four-letter word below and change one letter
to make a new four-letter word (keep it clean!) Then take that word and change
one letter to make a new word. Then take that word and… You get the picture.
LOAD
Extra
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
Six
Independent Clauses
Read the following excerpt from Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and then answer the following
questions:
(a) The days of September passed, one after the other, much the same.
(b) Annemarie and Ellen walked to school together and home again,
(c) always taking the long way, avoiding the tall soldier and his partner.
(d) Kirsti dawdled just behind them or scampered ahead.
5. Which part of line (a) is the independent clause? The days of September
passed
6. Who or what is the subject of the independent clause in line (b)?
Annemarie and Ellen
7. How many independent clauses does line (c) contain? None
8. Is line (d) an independent clause? YES
Using the proper proofreading marks, correct the six errors in this excerpt:
There
They’re was no fuel for now homes in Copenhagen Like the other families in
ed
their building, the Johansen’s had opened the old chimney and installing a
sp.
little stove to use for heet when they could find coal to burn.
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 FIXER-ROOTER: How many words can you think of that have the same prefix,
suffix, or root as the multisyllabic word below?
NONDESCRIPT
(without description or unable to be described)
Extra
Ten-Minute
Grammar
DAY
Seven
Independent Clauses
Read the following excerpt from Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and then answer the following
questions:
(a) Peter leaned forward. “It is their way of tormenting.
(b) For some reason, they want to torment jewish people.
(c) It happened in the other countries. They have taken their time here—
(d) have let us relax a little. But now it seems to be starting.”
1. How many independent clauses does line (a) contain? 2
2. Is the underlined portion of line (b) an independent clause? NO
3. Is the underlined portion of line (c) an independent clause? YES
4. Is the underlined portion of line (d) an independent clause? NO
5. Where is the capitalization error in line (b)? Jewish
6. At the end of line (c), is the word “here” correct, or should it be
replaced with “hear”? It is correct.
Wordplay – Just for fun!
 EIGHT BALL: Create as many words as you can using three or more of the
letters below (at least one eight-letter word is possible):
EADEDRDG
Degraded
Ten-Minute
Grammar
Extra
Practice
Independent Clauses
NAME:
PERIOD:
An INDEPENDENT CLAUSE is a group of words that can stand alone as a
sentence and must contain a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE.
In each of the following examples, underline the SUBJECT once and the PREDICATE twice (if it has a
subject and a predicate. Then decide if it is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE or not (answer YES or NO):
1. _NO_ A field of imaginary unicorns.
2. _YES_ Drinking a lot of water can help an athlete’s body energized.
3. _NO_ To drive from one side of the country to the other.
4. _YES_ My friend loves going to the movie theater.
5. _YES_ I haven’t been able to find my wallet for over a week.
6. _NO_ After the last day of summer break.
7. _NO_ Had arrived late for dinner.
8. _YES_ An attack of giant mutant tomatoes would be frightening.
9. _NO_ The monsters that hide in my closet and leave cookie crumbs on my floor.
10. _NO_ Walking to school instead of riding the bus.
11. _YES_ Paper cuts can be surprisingly painful.
12. _YES_ My family took a vacation to Hawaii and saw an active volcano.
13. _YES_ Running with scissors kills more people every year than alien attacks.
14. _NO_ Because of the difficulty of finding a needle in a haystack.
15. _NO_ Sitting too close to the TV, which can cause vision problems.
16. _YES_ These new headphones make my favorite band sound better than ever.
Add a SUBJECT to the following sentences to complete the INDEPENDENT CLAUSE:
ANSWERS WILL VARY.
17. __________________________________________ had just arrived at the amusement park.
18. __________________________________________ like pizza more than hamburgers.
19. __________________________________________ reads five different books every month.
20. __________________________________________ was dribbling the basketball when he tripped.
Add a PREDICATE to the following sentences to complete the INDEPENDENT CLAUSE:
ANSWERS WILL VARY.
21. Before arriving home, my family __________________________________________.
22. The man who lives at the end of the street __________________________________________.
23. However, people from North America __________________________________________.
24. The package that contains my birthday present _________________________________________.
Rewrite the following sentence fragments, adding whatever is necessary to turn them into
INDEPENDENT CLAUSES:
ANSWERS WILL VARY.
25. the giant, rampaging gorilla
The giant, rampaging gorilla destroyed everything in sight.
26. has been getting in trouble a lot lately
My older brother has been getting in trouble a lot lately.
27. watching football on a Saturday night
My favorite activity is watching football on a Saturday night.
28. slugs, with their slimy bodies and their gross-looking antennae
Slugs, with their slimy bodies and their gross-looking antennae, disgust me!
29. first of all, the pictures in your photo album
First of all, the pictures in your photo album need to be taken better care of.
30. sends thousands of texts a day
Every teenager I know sends thousands of texts a day.
Ten-Minute
Grammar
Extra
Practice
Independent Clauses
NAME:
PERIOD:
An INDEPENDENT CLAUSE is a group of words that can stand alone as a
sentence and must contain a SUBJECT and a PREDICATE.
Read the following example sentences from Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. For each sentence decide
if the underlined portion is an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (answer YES or NO):
1. _NO_ Though the October day later would be warmed by sunlight, now it was gray, chilly, and
damp.
2. _YES_ Though the October day later would be warmed by sunlight, now it was gray, chilly, and
damp.
3. _YES_ The path curved, and she could no longer look behind her and see the clearing with the
farmhouse outlined against the pale sky and the lightening meadow beyond.
4. _YES_ The path curved, and she could no longer look behind her and see the clearing with the
farmhouse outlined against the pale sky and the lightening meadow beyond.
5. _NO_ The path curved, and she could no longer look behind her and see the clearing with the
farmhouse outlined against the pale sky and the lightening meadow beyond.
Every complete sentence must contain at least one INDEPENDENT CLAUSE,
but sentences often contain more than that.
Read the following example sentences from Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and underline the
INDEPENDENT CLAUSE:
6. The officer tore the photograph in half, dropping the pieces on the floor.
7. Then he turned around, the heels of his shiny boots grinding into the pictures.
8. Without a word, the other two officers followed.
9. Annemarie relaxed the clenched fingers of her right hand, which still clutched Ellen’s necklace.
10. She looked down, seeing that she had imprinted the Star of David into her palm.
An INDEPENDENT CLAUSE must be able to stand alone as a sentence. So even if it contains a subject
and a predicate, a group of words that can’t stand alone cannot be an independent clause.
The following examples from Number the Stars all contain a subject and a predicate, but they cannot
stand alone as a sentence. For each example, use the proper editing mark to delete one or more words
and capitalize one word to make the sentence complete:
11. That they will look for the Jewish children in the schools.
12. If they are aware that the apartment is empty.
13. Remembering how she always interrupted stories to ask questions.
14. Where wolves lived in the dangerous woods.
15. Though it seemed different in the dark.
Rewrite each of the following examples from Number the Stars, adding or deleting whatever is
necessary to turn it into an INDEPENDENT CLAUSE (if it’s already an independent clause, just write
INDEPENDENT and don’t change anything):
ANSWERS WILL VARY
16. the place where the woods opened on one side and the path curved beside a meadow
The woods opened on one side and the path curved beside a meadow.
17. but more dangerous, too
This path was shorter, but more dangerous, too.
18. at this time of the dawn
At this time of the dawn, I don’t even want to be awake yet.
19. other fisherman would be on the road, hurrying to their boats for the long day at sea
INDEPENDENT
20. turned to the right and headed deeper into the woods
We turned to the right and headed deeper into the woods.
21. a wrong turn would have taken them into danger
INDEPENDENT
22. Little Red Riding-Hood, with her basket of food
Little Red Riding-Hood, with her basket of food, skipped all the way to her grandma’s house.