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My friend asked me to underline the dependent clause in the following sentence ;

  • My hope is that everyone will come to the party.

  • I told her that the whole sentence is an independent clause in which the that everyone will come to the party acts as a dependent clause since it fills the gap of the subject complement, but she still thinks that the dependent clause is My hope is that because it doesn't stand alone and the rest everyone will come to the party does.

  • Am I right ?. If not, help me to figure out where the dependent clause is and why. Also, why is my friend's point of view wrong/right? Thanks in advance.

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    You're right: the whole sentence is an independent clause, one of whose constituents is the dependent clause introduced with that. My hope is that isn't a clause or even a constituent.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Sep 22, 2017 at 14:16

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My hope is that everyone will come to the party.

You're right. The emboldened part is the dependent clause because it cannot stand alone: *that everyone will come to the party is not a complete sentence.

My hope is that cannot stand alone not because it's a dependent clause, but because it does not form a constituent, that is, a group of words functioning as a unit.

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