which sentence includes a dependent clause?
a. Today is her 16th birthday.
b. It was a fancy hat!
c. She smiled as she opened the package.
d. The package was heavy.
c. She smiled as she opened the package.
c. She smiled as she opened the package.
To identify a dependent clause, we need to understand that it's a group of words that contains a subject and a verb but cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. Let's analyze the given sentences:
a. "Today is her 16th birthday."
This sentence is a simple independent clause since it can stand alone as a complete sentence. It contains the subject "Today" and the verb "is."
b. "It was a fancy hat!"
This sentence is also an independent clause since it can stand alone as a complete sentence. It contains the subject "It" and the verb "was."
c. "She smiled as she opened the package."
In this sentence, we have a dependent clause, "as she opened the package", which cannot function independently as a complete sentence. It does contain a subject "she" and a verb "opened."
d. "The package was heavy."
Similar to the previous examples, this sentence is an independent clause. It contains the subject "The package" and the verb "was."
Therefore, the sentence that includes a dependent clause is:
c. "She smiled as she opened the package."