I NDEPENDENT C LAUSES Many clauses are in fact whole sentences joined by conjunctions like “and” or “but”: “Collins is a vice president, but Martell is a senior editor Either clause in the example could standby itself as a sentence both are therefore “independent” clauses. There are no rulesmandating parallelism, or balance, between independent clauses, but commonsense says that ordinary language in ordinary moments does not mix wildly di erent elements. So independent clauses inmost straightforward writing probably should be of roughly the same length, complexity, and tone or style. As with all such guidelines, there are many circumstances in which they do not apply and are best violated for effect or emphasis. D EPENDENT C LASUSES When pronouns introduce or conjunctions join clauses in such away that one or more of the clauses cannot standalone as a sentence, the sentence is said to include both independent and dependent clauses. Those clauses that cannot standalone (with their conjunctions) are the dependent ones When we have reorganized, Martell will be vice president When we have reorganized is a fragment or dependent clause that means nothing by itself. The core of the clause (we have reorganized) could be a sentence by itself, but the addition of the subordinating conjunction when makes the clause dependent. A GREEMENT The key concern with clauses is agreement among their elements across conjunctions,
