Clauses
A clause has one main idea. It can form a complete sentence, eg ‘The cat mewed.’ This is called a major clause.
Other clauses do not work as independent sentences. For example ‘because the dog growled’. This is a subordinate clause.
A sentence can contain more than one clause:
The cat mewed because the dog growled.
Question
Identify the main and subordinate clauses in the following sentences:
The birds ate their food, even though the cat prowled below.
As he was feeling brave, Jos took a step forward.
Johnston, who was only fifteen years old, was already a brilliant footballer.
The parts in bold are major clauses; the parts in plain text are subordinate clauses:
The birds ate their food even though the cat prowled below.
As he was feeling brave, Jos took a step forward.
Johnston, who was only fifteen years old, was already a brilliant footballer.
Notice that subordinate clauses can also be ‘embedded’ within their major clause.