principal clause
Americannoun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So, in every conditional sentence, the prot'asis, or condition, differs considerably from the apod'osis, or principal clause, even where both are expressed as facts.
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Goold Brown
Motor wagons are economical is a principal clause.
From Business English A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig
Minor Clauses—Clauses other than the principal clause or main statement of a sentence.
From Punctuation A Primer of Information about the Marks of Punctuation and their Use Both Grammatically and Typographically by Frederick W. (Frederick William) Hamilton
A subordinate or dependent clause is one which makes a statement depending upon or modifying some word in the principal clause.
From An English Grammar by James Witt Sewell
A principal clause is sometimes defined as "one that can stand alone," and is therefore independent of the rest of the sentence.
From Composition-Rhetoric by Stratton D. Brooks
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
