Which of the following clauses is an independent clause?

(C) The baby cried.

Explanation:

Independent clauses are those words or groups of words that have a meaningful passage, can make complete sentence on it's own. independent clauses are always present in a sentence.

There are two types of clauses- independent and subordinate. While independent clauses are the words that make sense and can be used on their own, subordinate clauses are just the opposite. They are just the other half of the sentence that does not have any meaning by itself.

Out of the four options provided, the third option (C) is an independent clause. "The baby cried" is a complete sentence on it's own, making a meaningful sentence. The other options (A), (B) and (D) are all subordinate clauses as they form only a part of a sentence, with no real sense on it's own.

gregor's attempts to crawl on the walls

sentences vary by structure as well as by function. there are compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences.

simple sentence

i like to read.

a simple sentence has one independent clause.

compound sentence

i like to read, and i also like to write.

a compound sentence includes more than one independent clause, connected by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, or yet).

complex sentence

i prefer to read books that are bestsellers.

a complex sentence includes one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses. (a dependent clause is one that cannot stand alone.) types of dependent clauses include relative clauses (i kicked the boy who pinched me), adverb clauses (i am going home now because i have a curfew), and noun clauses (i don't know what to do next).

compound-complex sentence

although i prefer to read current bestsellers, i do like to read old agatha christie mysteries, and i also like some 20th-century science fiction.

compound-complex sentences take a bunch of clauses (multiple independent clauses, and one or more dependent clauses) and toss them together like a salad. although these sentences take practice to write in a grammatically correct fashion, they can hold a tremendous amount of meaning, and are common in academic writing.