Final answer:
A dependent clause is not a complete thought, it contains a subject or a verb but not a complete thought. It needs the rest of the sentence to make sense. It requires an independent clause to provide context and meaning to become part of a grammatically correct statement.
Step-by-step explanation:
A dependent clause is not a complete thought; it contains both a subject and a verb but not an independent assertion that allows it to stand alone. A dependent clause must be attached to an independent clause to form a meaningful sentence. For instance, in the sentence 'If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both,' the first part of the sentence is a dependent clause because it starts with 'if,' a subordinating conjunction. Such a clause cannot convey a complete idea without being linked to an independent clause, which in this case is 'you will lose them both.'
It's crucial to understand the difference between dependent and independent clauses to construct grammatically correct sentences. An independent clause, like 'Hand me that socket wrench,' can stand on its own as a full sentence because it contains a complete thought, whereas a dependent clause cannot. When combining them, you can form complex sentences, like 'She is going to be a schoolteacher because she believes education is the most fundamental pillar of the republic,' which includes one independent clause and one dependent clause, or compound-complex sentences that have multiple independent clauses and at least one dependent clause.