independent clause

British  

noun

1. grammar a main or coordinate clause Compare dependent clause

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independent clause Cultural  

1. A clause that can stand alone as a sentence. The following sentence consists of two independent clauses joined by but: “The farmers complained of the low price of food, but the office workers did not complain.” (Compare dependent clause.)

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Example Sentences

Oh dear, someone was out sick the week their English teacher taught sentence diagramming, or they would know that the “and” in Giuliani’s sentence separated two independent clauses.

From Salon

Capitalize what follows the colon if it’s an independent clause, as here.

From New York Times

The second sentence has the flaw sometimes called a “comma splice” — that is, a comma separating two independent clauses, where we should use a period, semicolon or some other connector.

From New York Times

We’re looking the expert in the face for the independent clause, but for the dependent clause we’re suddenly staring into his ear.

From New York Times

It is a principle in Greek, as in other languages, that a certain relation must hold between the verbs of dependent clauses and those of the independent clauses on which they are based.

From Project Gutenberg