main clause
- a clause that can stand alone as a sentence, containing a subject and a predicate with a finite verb, as I was there in the sentence I was there when he arrived.
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Compare subordinate clause.
Also called in·de·pend·ent clause.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
independent clause
- grammar a main or coordinate clauseCompare dependent clause
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main clause
- grammar a clause that can stand alone as a sentenceCompare subordinate clause
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
independent clause
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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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.