Perhaps the easiest way to introduce the concept of “clause” is to begin with compound main clauses. Thus far, students have been focusing on S/V/C patterns and “sentences.” What is the difference between a “sentence” and a “clause”? A “sentence” ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point; a “clause” is an S/V/C pattern and all the words that chunk to (modify) it. Simple compound main clauses give us a large supply of examples from which the students can very easily see the difference. In analyzing sentences in the KISS Approach, we put a vertical line at the end of each main clause.

1. Once they heard a door bang. | Somebody scuttered downstairs. |
2. Once they heard a door bang, | and somebody scuttered downstairs.|

     Your first objective should be to enable students to identify the main clause “breaks.” From this point on, whenever they are doing analysis exercises, they should always put a vertical line at the end of every main clause. (Remember that the main clause is the fundamental unit of by which we process language. According to our KISS psycholinguistic model, our brains chunk all the words in a sentence together, in short-term memory (STM), until we get to a main clause break. At that point, we dump the main clause into long-term-memory (LTM), and clear STM for the next main clause.
     Once students can identify main clauses fairly easily, you really should turn to the logic and punctuation of them. Many of the punctuation errors that students make involve main clause boundaries. The students sense that two “sentences” belong together, but the students have probably not been taught how to use a colon, semicolon, or dash to punctuate them, as professional writers would. 
     The standards for using colons, semicolons, and dashes to separate main clauses are norms, not commandments. Many teachers have reported being taught to use a semicolon to separate contrasting ideas, whereas a colon or dash “should” be used to separate main clauses when the second adds more detailed information to the first. My experience suggests that these norms are followed approximately 60% of the time for semicolons, but 90% of the time for colons and dashes. In the other cases, you may simply find semicolons separating parallel ideas or sentences that do not seem to have this same/different logical connection. In many cases, one has to stand back and look at the general logic of the writer’s text. In many KISS punctuation exercises, students are simply asked to analyze the text, examine the logic, and then discuss it. Although not all writers follow the norm, it is important for students to understand it, for two reasons. First, it will help solve the problems posed by some of their own punctuation errors; and second, it will help them understand the logic in the texts of writers who do follow the norm.

     As always in KISS, students study the most commonly occurring  constructions first. KISS Level 3.1.1 should give students an excellent command of compounded main clauses. Level 3.1.2 introduces the most commonly occurring subordinate clauses -- those that function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. In KISS Level 3.1.3, students are introduced to (and taught how to untangle) embedded clauses (clauses within clauses within clauses). I am unaware of any textbooks that even discuss this question, and my college students have regularly been surprised to learn that there can be subordinate clauses within subordinate clauses. But consider the following sentence from the children's book Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic, by Betty MacDonald. (In KISS, we put brackets around subordinate clauses.)

Mrs. Jones looked at him suspiciously | but he widened his large blue eyes | and -- [as he was only eight years old, a little small for his age and seemed even smaller in ten-year-old Jan's pajamas, [which he had swiped the night before [because he had forgotten [that he had stuffed his own in the window seat [when he was cleaning up his half of the room]]]]] -- Mrs. Jones convinced herself [that he wasn't fooling] and let him go out to play. |

     You may have wondered why,  Level 3 has been divided into two printable books. The assumption is that each printable book includes approximately a year's worth of study. Currently, many English teachers cannot identify the basic clauses in sentences, and clauses, as noted above, are probably the most important grammatical construction that students need to master. (Note that I wrote "master" and not "be taught." Learning the definitions and types of subordinate clauses is fairly easy. Developing the ability to identify them in any sentence takes time and practice, especially if you want to include the exercises on punctuation, style and logic.) 

     Once students have mastered the basics of clauses, KISS Level 3.2 deals with the most frequent "complications." For example, Level 3.2.1 deals with ellipsis in clauses and with semi-reduced clauses, something that you will probably not find in most grammar textbooks. Consider the sentence, "When home, he is a very good father." Thoughtful students who have mastered KISS Level 3.1 will probably see on their own that the sentence means "When *he is* home, he is . . . ." Other students, however, will benefit by exercises that focus on this type of ellipsis. Other sections of KISS Level 3.2 explain KISS definitions of terms. Some grammars, for example, claim that "for" is a coordinating conjunction and some claim that it is subordinating. KISS Level 3.2.2 explains why in KISS, both "so" and "for" can be explained as either coordinating or subordinating conjunctions, depending on how and where they are used.
     Although KISS Level 3.2 will enable students to explain about 99% of the clauses they run across in randomly selected texts, there are some functions of clauses that are not covered here for the simple reason that they function as constructions that are introduced in KISS Level Five (such as Delayed Subjects and Appositives). When students get to these constructions, they should have little, if any, trouble in understanding the functions of these clauses.
 

Notes for Teachers KISS Level 3.1.1

     Section 3.1.1 consists of five types of exercises, all based on compound main clauses (with few, if any, subordinate clauses). The objective of the first type (four exercises) is to have students identify the main clauses in compound sentences. The following type (two exercises) focuses on the logic and punctuation of main clauses. The third (a single exercise) asks students to combine sentences to create compound main clauses. The fourth is a treasure hunt, and the fifth asks students to write compound sentences by using a dash, colon, or semicolon.

Suggested Directions for Analytical Exercises
1. Place parentheses ( ) around each prepositional phrase. 
2. Underline finite verbs twice, their subjects once, and label complements ("PA," "PN," "IO," or "DO"). 
3. Place a vertical line after each main clause. 

Probable Time Required: Nine exercises
 

Exercises in KISS Level 3.1.1

Instructional Material: Main Clauses

Studies in Semicolons: From Rudyard Kipling's  "The Sing-Song of Old Man Kangaroo"  AK ToC G5       This is not just a study in correctness or the rules, but an exploration of how Kipling's text supports or violates those rules. My guess is that most students will finish in about ten minutes, but discussion may take a whole class period to explore what is similar and what is different in the clauses that Kipling joins with semicolons. This is, in other words, a fundamental exercise in logic as well as in grammar.