{"id":3217,"date":"2015-07-20T09:30:19","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T13:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?p=3217"},"modified":"2015-07-09T16:20:43","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T20:20:43","slug":"when-the-chimps-ate-mike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/when-the-chimps-ate-mike\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen The Chimps Ate Mike\u201d {Language Lady: Sub Clause Openers}"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I had one of those real “Let’s eat, Grandma” vs “Let’s eat Grandma” instances in writing class this week–and it was so much fun!<\/p>\n The student’s sentence read something like this “When the chimps ate Mike began banging the cans together.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thus, it sounded like this (without the comma that was needed): “When the chimps ate Mike…”<\/p>\n Do you know why the comma is needed there? (Besides the obvious fact that the chimps did not eat Mike? \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It is because that sentence contains a subordinate clause opener\u2014a sentence opener (words that open a real sentence) that begins with a subordinator and creates a dependent (it is dependent on the rest of the sentence in order to be used) or subordinate (less than the rest of the sentence in rank) clause. Let me sum this up more clearly for you!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n First, you need to memorize subordinators in order to be able to recognize that you have written a subordinate clause (or dependent clause) and not a real sentence. (Actually, first you need to memorize CAVES <\/a>and figure out what a real sentence is!).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n