Nouns, verbs, and adjectives all make up a sentence, but is also made up of two kinds of clauses: main clauses and subordinate clauses. A main clause can stand alone as a sentence, containing a subject and a predicate with a finite verb. A subordinate clause cannot stand alone because it doesn't express a complete thought even though it has a subject and predicate. A main clause and a subordinate clause can be combined together with conjunctions, which form different kinds of sentences useful for writing. Main clauses and subordinate clauses are building blocks of sentence types. A main clause is also known as an independent clause, which is a necessity to the English language because without main clauses sentences wouldn't make sense. An independent clause, also known as a simple sentence, can stand by itself and contains a subject and a predicate. When a main clause stands by itself and isn't a fragment, it is just a simple sentence. Independent clauses can be combined either by coordinating conjunctions or semicolons. The coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and sometimes, so, connect two main clauses which creates balanced and smooth writing. When independent clauses are joined by semicolons, the two clauses are similar and can be used with conjunctive adverbs. The conjunctive adverbs to use would be therefore, however, or likewise. The foundation of any sentence is a main clause, and subordinate clauses can be tied in also. A subordinate clause, which is also known as a dependent clause, augments an independent clause with more information, but cannot stand alone as a sentence. A dependent clause contains a subject and a verb, but unlike an independent clause cannot stand alone as a sentence. The dependent clause must be joined by a main clause to have meaning and make sense. A subordinating conjunction introduces a subordinate clause and also joins two clauses so they are dependent on each other. Some subordin