Grammar Bites: The basics of main and subordinate clauses

The definition of a clause is that it consists of a subject and a verb. That's it. Any subject plus verb combination is a clause. A clause is not the same as a sentence, although some clauses, suitably presented and punctuated, can be sentences.

Some examples:

• "The runner sprinted down the track very quickly."
  • Subject = the runner
  • Verb = sprinted
• "Has Jane tidied all her mess away?"
  • Subject = Jane
  • Verb = has tidied

Some sentences have just the one clause and some have more than one.

• "Jane has tidied her own room and she also spruced up the living room."
  • Subject 1 = Jane
  • Verb 1 = has tidied
  • Subject 2 = she
  • Verb 2 = spruced up

So far so good, but what makes a clause main or subordinate? The three examples we have seen so far have all been main clauses. Here are two subordinate clauses, using similar features from those examples:

• "sprinting down the track very quickly"
  • Subject = ? (we don't know from the information we have)
  • Verb = sprinted
• "Once Jane had tidied all her mess away"
  • Subject = Jane
  • Verb = had tidied

A main clause can stand on its own and could be a sentence in its own right, if you chose to punctuate it as such. A subordinate clause modifies a main clause, performing a function dictated by the main clause – it would make little or no sense without the main clause and could never be a sentence in its own right.

For example:

• "Alice loves watching the soaps, but only when her mother is not home."
  • Main clause = Alice loves watching the soaps
  • Subordinate clause = but only when her mother is not home
• "Dave hoped Alice would be at the party, because he really liked her."
  • Main clause = Dave hoped Alice would be at the party
  • Subordinate clause = because he really liked her

In each case the main clause can stand on its own, but the subordinate clause could not; what it is doing is qualifying or modifying the main clause – it would therefore make little sense without the main clause's presence.

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