 Liveinjapan wrote: |
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Thanks, Grammar Geek!
So, used a comma splice, that would be okay:
'Fortunately we had a map,(<-- a comma splice) without it we would have gotten (/ been) lost.
Is that what you mean?
I understand what you said about how to separate the sentence into complete two ones.
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You have the choice between these three:
1. Fortunately, we had a map. Without it, we would have been lost.
2. Fortunately we had a map, without which we would have gotten/been lost.
3. Fortunately we had a map without it we would have gotten/been lost.
A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a sentence. In itself, a dependent clause does not express a complete thought; therefore, it is usually attached to an independent clause. Although a dependent clause contains a subject and a predicate, it sounds incomplete when standing alone.
You can say, "without it we would have been lost" and the sentence would be complete, but this sentence: "without which we would have been lost", is a dependent clause and therefore incomplete because it isn't refering to anything.
Sorry for being so imperceptive in my last post.