Editorial Inspirations

As a child, I grew up around guns. They were always within my reach. When I was five, my father took me to his bedroom and showed me the gun in his nightstand. He told me that it was there for emergencies, but that I was not to touch it. I never did.

I would target practice with my father (when he made me), but guns never interested me. Only once did I hold a gun for protection.

Home alone as a teenager, I heard a stranger knocked on the door. When no one answered, the man began peering in windows. Frightened, I called my parents. My father told me to get the gun and stay in my room. I lay the gun on my bed, as the man continued to peer in many of the windows.

The man eventually left, and the gun remained on my bed until my father came to retrieve it. I have been to various gun shows and gun ranges with my father since then, but I have never held a gun.

Though I held the gun for protection, after discovering that the strange man was a friend of my father I feared what I could have done with that gun had a door to the house been unlocked.

Borders has joined Sony to launch an online store that offers e-book titles for Sony’s Reader Digital Book device. The new store will offer access to over 25,000 titles.

Consumers who purchase a Reader Digital Book device at a Borders’ store will be given a promotional code that will allow them to access to new new online store, says Borders spokesperson Mary Davis.

In addition, Sony is offering a $50 credit, good for purchasing e-books from the co-branded Borders/Sony store, as well as 100 free e-book classics, to consumers who purchase the Reader Digital Book device before January 15.

A clause is a sequence of related words containing both a subject and a predicate. There are two types of clauses: an independent clause and a subordinate clause. An independent clause is a complete sentence, while a subordinate clause acts as an adverb, an adjective, or a noun.

Example

I saw the dog, for it stood staring at me. [independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjuntion]

I saw the dog, which was staring at me. [subordinate adjective clause]

I saw the dog because it stood staring at me. [subordinate adverb clause]

I saw that the dog stood staring at me. [subordinate noun clause]

As shown in the examples, subordinate clauses begin with subordinating conjuntions or relative pronouns. They are grammatically dependent upon independent clauses.

The following words are commonly use as subordinating conjunctions:
after
although
as
because
before
even
how
if
now that
once
since
so that
than
that
though
unless
until
when
where
whether
while

Try It!

In the following sentences, locate the subordinate clauses and specify what it is functioning as.

1. What the magazine says may be false.
2. Countrysides where people can find time for rest and relaxation no longer exist.
3. When the storm hit, the electricity went out.
4. As the days grew shorter, Doug’s amount of homework grew.
5. Listen as closely as you can.