subordinate clause

American  

noun

Grammar.

1. a clause that modifies the principal clause or some part of it or that serves a noun function in the principal clause, as when she arrived in the sentence I was there when she arrived or that she has arrived in the sentence I doubt that she has arrived.

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subordinate clause British  

noun

1. grammar a clause with an adjectival, adverbial, or nominal function, rather than one that functions as a separate sentence in its own right Compare coordinate clause main clause

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Example Sentences

Like a main clause, a subordinate clause has a subject and verb; however, unlike a main clause, it cannot stand alone as a sentence.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

A subordinate clause punctuated as a sentence is a type of sentence fragment.

From Textbooks • Dec. 21, 2021

A subordinate clause to these statements, drawn from Pages 9 and 10 of the Mueller report, would help illuminate the troubling reasons Mueller postulated for his findings of insufficient evidence:

From Washington Post • May 17, 2019

Also, the long subordinate clause and lack of punctuation make this hard to read.

From New York Times • May 27, 2014

In the example, the subordinate clause, although subjunctive, shows, 'hadst.'

From The Verbalist A Manual Devoted to Brief Discussions of the Right and the Wrong Use of Words and to Some Other Matters of Interest to Those Who Would Speak and Write with Propriety. by Osmun, Thomas Embly