Which statement is true about independent clauses? they are connected by a coordinating conjunction. they have a subject but do not have a predicate. they do not make complete sense on their own. they are never combined with a dependent clause. they always start with a subordinating conjunction.

Well, let's see... I don't know what a coordinating conjunction is off the top of my head, but I know B isn't the answer, since 'independent' means 'highly capable of handling oneself'. C certainly isn't the answer, simply because you can see by this answer they obviously do combine with a dependent clause from time to time. That leaves us with D and A, which both leave the same term. However, I do believe I can use the word preceding conjunction, which is coordinating, to realize that 'and,' 'but,' and 'or' are coordinating conjunctions. Seriously, D cannot be the answer because not every sentence starts with any of those. So your answer is A.