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.
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
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
If that is the case, they should be combined, the most important detail being put into the principal clause, and the other details into modifiers, as in the preceding exercise.
From Business English A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig
A participle should not stand at the beginning of a sentence or principal clause unless it belongs to the subject of that sentence or clause.
From Practical Grammar and Composition by Thomas Wood
How should the principal clause in the last paragraph be made prominent by the voice?
From The Ontario High School Reader by A.E. Marty
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.
