Do you know what a clause is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on clauses, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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December 9, 2021
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Common Questions
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What is a clause?
According to 7ESL and Collins English Dictionary, a clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb. This is different from a phrase, which is a group of words that are unrelated. There are many different types of clauses including a dependent clause, independent clause, noun clause, adjective clause, adverb clause or adverbial clause, nonrestrictive clauses, a concessive clause, a coordinate clause, and more. Some clauses form a whole simple sentence while others are an incomplete thought.
A noun clause is considered a dependent clause, and plays the part of a noun. Noun clauses usually begin with who, how, what, when, whether, which, whom, why, whenever, whoever, and whatever. These clauses must contain a noun and a verb. Adjective clauses modify a noun or pronoun. These usually begin with who, that, whose, or which. Adverb clauses behave like an adverb and modify a verb. These usually begin with how, where, why or what and describe the condition of action of the sentence. An independent clause can stand alone as a full sentence and has a subject and a predicate. It can also link to a dependent clause, which has a subject and verb but is still a sentence fragment. Different clauses come together to form a complete sentence in English grammar. The different forms of sentences are a simple sentence, complex sentences, compound sentences, and compound-complex sentences. Clauses can be connected by a subordinating conjunction, coordinative conjunction, a conjunctive adverb, verb phrase, modifiers, a distinct article, relative pronouns, a semicolon, a comma, brackets, and more to form a complete thought.
A clause can also refer to a segment of a legal document such as the first amendment or a stipulation in a lawsuit rather than the smallest grammatical unit, or matrix clauses. Clauses play a variety of roles with the subject of the sentence subject of the first clause and subject of the second clause, adjuncts, and more.
The word clause has been used since 13th century Middle English claus, and comes from Anglo-French, Old French and the Medieval Latin clausa, which refers to the close of a rhetorical period, from the Latin feminine of clausus, which is the past participle of claudere and the Latin clausula.
Many different languages also contain words that mean clause. You may notice that some of these translations of clause look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of clause is provided by Word Sense.
- Tagalog: sugnay
- Japanese: 節 (せつ, setsu)
- Catalan: clàusula (fem.)
- Irish: clásal (masc.)
- French: proposition (fem.)
- German: Teilsatz (masc.)
- Portuguese: oração (fem.)
- Finnish: lause
- Russian: предложе́ние (neut.) (also: sentence)
- Armenian: նախադասություն
- Turkish: cümlecik
- Mandarin: 短句 (duǎnjù)
- Norman: proposition (fem.)
- Arabic: جُمْلَة (fem.), بَنْد (masc.)
- Swedish: sats (common)
- Dutch: nevenschikking (fem.), bijzin (masc.)
- Scottish Gaelic: clàs (masc.)
What is an example of a clause?
There are many examples of clauses below. See if you can determine which entity in the following words and sentences are an example of independent clauses or other types of clauses, or if you can identify the subject of this clause.
Charlie spoke to the headmaster.
Tonight I did.
Maria went to the mall.
How he was.
Jerry likes bananas.
What are other literary techniques and devices?
There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.
- direct speech
- interjection
- clause
- base form
- combining form (comb. form)
- preposition (prep.)
- parenthetical | parenthetically
- abstract
- third-person
- transitive
- perfect
- apodosis and protasis
- intransitive
- ellipsis | elliptical
- phrase (phr.)
- compound | compounding
- complementary
- possessive pronoun
- similative
- collocation | collocate
- superlative
- personal pronoun
- passive infinitive
- tense
- adverb (adv.)
- subject
- objective
- first person
- indirect object
- postmodify | postmodifier
- non-finite
- interrogative
- noun (n.)
- past participle
- finite
- intensifier
- relative
- modify | modifier
- past tense
- quasi-
- present participle
- double object
- non-referential
- clause
- masculine
- that-clause
- dative
- sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
- direct question
- subordinate clause
- present tense
- direct object
- count noun
- clause
- article
- indirect speech
- agree | agreement
- part of speech
- locative
- main verb
- indirect question
- indirect passive
- anaphoric
- conditional
- inflection | inflected | inflectional
- construed (const., constr.)
- adjective
- pro-form
- parasynthetic
- person
- construction
- possessive adjective
- premodify | premodifier
- head
- prepositional passive
- verbal noun
- positive
- gerund
- unmarked genitive
- noun phrase
- pronoun (pron.)
- morpheme
- second person
- gender
- main clause
- instrumental
- concrete
- passive
- zero
- nominal relative | nominal relative clause
- object | direct object | indirect object
- predicative
- feminine
- plural
- element
- vocative
- prepositional phrase
- demonstrative
- indefinite
- collective noun
- agent noun
- anticipatory
- appositive
- definite article
- to-infinitive
- conjunction (conj.)
- filler
- case
- copular verb | copula
- protasis
- infinitive
- progressive
- prepositional object
- pleonasm | pleonastic
- periphrasis | periphrastic
- accusative
- adverbial | adverbially
- reflexive
- mass noun
- comparative
- causative
- determiner
- subjective
- stem
- mood
- proper noun | proper name
- apposition
- impersonal (impers.)
- optative
- phrasal verb
- cognate object
- neuter
- cataphoric
- complement
- simple
- possessive
- modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
- participle | past participle | present participle
- participial adjective
- imperative (imper.)
- indicative
- special use
- number
- dual
- absolute (absol.)
- active
- combination
- auxiliary verb | auxiliary
- common noun
- singular
- nominative
- verb (v.)
- prefix
- attributive
- bare infinitive
- declarative
- antecedent
- genitive
- subjunctive
Overall, a clause is a group of words that has a subject and a verb.
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