What is an independent clause?

An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought. This means it can stand alone as a complete sentence. For example, in the sentence "She loves to read," "She loves to read" is an independent clause because it conveys a complete idea without needing additional information.

In contrast, a clause that cannot stand alone is known as a dependent clause, and it typically relies on an independent clause to form a complete sentence. Punctuation at the end of a sentence is not related to the functionality of clauses but rather to the mechanics of writing. Additionally, a phrase in a compound sentence refers to parts of a sentence structure that may not even include a verb or a subject, further differentiating it from the definition of an independent clause.