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

See Examples For:

subordinate clause

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

From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021

The main clause expresses the main idea of the sentence, and the subordinate clause expresses the less important idea.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 21, 2021

“One yearns for a subordinate clause, a compound-complex sentence being too much to hope for,” he observed.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 20, 2019

Revisions pursued through six or seven drafts allowed for the chance to find the right word, to control the balance of a subordinate clause, to replace the adjective with a noun.

From New York Times ● Oct. 23, 2014

By bringing his old knowledge to bear on such a sentence as "The men who brought it returned at once"; the pupil may be asked first to apperceive the subordinate clause, who brought it.

From Ontario Normal School Manuals: Science of Education by Ontario. Ministry of Education