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

Like a main clause, a subordinate clause has a subject and verb; however, unlike a main clause, it cannot stand alone as a sentence.

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

The studio interview, by contrast, is rigidly controlled lest a stray subordinate clause meanders in trailing tedious detail.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 21, 2011

In the example, the subordinate clause, although subjunctive, shows, 'hadst.'

From The Verbalist A Manual Devoted to Brief Discussions of the Right and the Wrong Use of Words and to Some Other Matters of Interest to Those Who Would Speak and Write with Propriety. by Thomas Embly Osmun