Help with Clauses Please ?

[Haveheart89]

I am finding it hard to work out where a clause starts and ends. I have been looking at this piece of writing trying to identify clauses but I am so confused. All I know is that a clause needs a verb but other than that, I am lost.

This is the writing I have been trying to break down into clauses:

My bones felt as though they were broken to bits.
I shook like a flag in the wind.
I was sick. So sick. I wanted to die.
But suddenly the pain stopped. I began to feel something new.
I felt younger and lighter. I felt that I could do anything.

Any ideas, help ?

Thanks

[James M]

(1) You have asked a REALLY difficult question because different books define the word "clause" in different ways!

(2) Here is ONE way: a clause is a sentence that is PART of another sentence. (It must have a subject + verb.)

(a) "My bones felt as though they were broken to bits." (1) Some books say that "as though they were broken to bits" is a (subordinate) clause because it has a subject (they) and a verb (were broken), and it is part of the whole sentence ("My bones felt AS THOUGH THEY WERE BROKEN TO BITS").

(b) "I felt that I could do anything." Can you pick out the (subordinate) clause? That's right! It's "that I could do anything" because it has a subject (I) and a verb (could do), and it is part of the whole sentence ("I felt THAT I COULD DO ANYTHING').

(3) Let's look at your other sentences. I think that most books (and teachers) would say that the other sentences do not have any subordinate clauses:

(a) I shook like a flag in the wind. That is one sentence. It has one subject (I) and a verb (shook). Do you see a clause (with a subject and a verb) that is part of the sentence? But we could add a clause and write: I shook like a flag in the wind when I saw the bad man with a gun.
"When I saw the bad man with the gun" is a clause because it has a subject "I" and a verb "saw," and -- as you now know -- is PART of a bigger sentence.

(b) I was sick. [I was ] so sick. I wanted to die. (There are three sentences. No subordinate clauses. If you said, "I was sick AFTER I ATE 10 HAMBURGERS," then you would have a clause. Or: "I was so sick THAT I WANTED TO DIE," then you would again have a clause. Or: "I wanted to die WHEN MY WIFE DIVORCED ME," then you would have a clause.)