A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a

complex sentence In grammar, sentence and clause structure, commonly known as sentence composition, is the classification of sentences based on the number and kind of clauses in their syntactic structure. Such division is an element of traditional grammar. Typol ...

. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as the

complement A complement is something that completes something else. Complement may refer specifically to: The arts * Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave ** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...

of the verb "know" rather than as a freestanding sentence. Subtypes of dependent clauses include

content clause In grammar, a content clause is a dependent clause that provides content implied or commented upon by an independent clause. The term was coined by Danish linguist Otto Jespersen. They are also known as noun clauses. English In English, there ar ...

relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the argument ...

s, and adverbial clauses.

Content clause

A content clause, also known as a "noun clause", provides content implied or commented upon by its main clause. It can be a subject,

predicate nominative In grammar, a subject complement or predicative of the subject is a predicative expression that follows a linking verb ( copula) and that complements the subject of the sentence by either (1) renaming it or (2) describing it. It completes the me ...

direct object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but ...

appositive Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be ''in apposition'', and one of the elements is c ...

indirect object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but ...

, or object of the preposition. Some of the English words that introduce content clauses are ''that, who'' (and formal ''whom''), ''whoever'' (and formal ''whomever''), ''whether, why, what, how, when'', and ''where''. Notice that some of these words also introduce relative and adverbial clauses. A clause is a content clause if a pronoun (''he, she, it,'' or ''they'') could be substituted for it. Examples: *I know ''who said that''. (I know them. The dependent clause serves as the object of the main-clause verb "know".) *''Whoever made that assertion'' is wrong. (They are wrong. The dependent clause serves as the subject of the main clause.) In English, in some instances the subordinator ''that'' can be omitted. Example 1: *I know ''that he is here.'' *I know ''he is here''. Example 2: *I think ''that it is pretty''. (less common) *I think ''it is pretty''. (more common)

Relative (adjectival) clause

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

, a relative clause, also called an adjectival clause or an adjective clause, meets three requirements: #Like all dependent clauses, it contains a verb (and also a subject unless it is a non-finite dependent clause). However, in a

pro-drop language A pro-drop language (from "pronoun-dropping") is a language where certain classes of pronouns may be omitted when they can be pragmatically or grammatically inferable. The precise conditions vary from language to language, and can be quite int ...

the subject may be a zero pronoun: the pronoun may not be explicitly included because its identity is conveyed by a verbal

inflection In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...

. #It begins with a relative adverb 'when, where'', ''how'', or ''why'' in Englishor a relative pronoun 'who, whom, whose, that, what'' or ''which'' in English However, the English relative pronoun (other than ''what'') may be omitted and only implied if it plays the role of the object of the verb or object of a preposition in a restrictive clause; for example, ''He is the boy I saw'' is equivalent to ''He is the boy whom I saw'', and ''I saw the boy you are talking about'' is equivalent to the more formal ''I saw the boy about whom you are talking''. #The relative clause functions as an adjective, answering questions such as "what kind?", "how many?" or "which one?" The adjective clause in English will follow one of these patterns: *Relative Pronoun unctioning as Object of Verb + Subject + Verb :This is the ball ''that'' I was bouncing.'' *Relative Pronoun unctioning as Object of Verb(Omitted but Implied) + Subject + Verb :This is the ball I was bouncing. *Relative Adverb + Subject + Verb (possibly + Object of Verb) :That is the house ''where'' I grew up. :That is the house ''where'' I met her. *Relative Pronoun unctioning as Subject + Verb (possibly + Object of Verb) :That is the person ''who'' hiccuped. :That is the person ''who'' saw me. *Relative Pronoun unctioning as Object of Preposition+ Subject + Verb (possibly + Object of Verb) + Preposition :That is the person ''who(m)'' I was talking about. :That is the person ''who(m)'' I was telling you about. *Preposition + Relative Pronoun unctioning as Object of Preposition+ Subject + Verb (possibly + Object of Verb) :That is the person about ''whom'' I was talking. :That is the person about ''whom'' I was telling you. *Possessive Relative Pronoun + Noun unctioning as Subject+ Verb (possibly + Object of Verb) :That is the dog ''whose'' big brown eyes pleaded for another cookie. :That is the dog ''whose'' big brown eyes begged me for another cookie. *Possessive Relative Pronoun + Noun unctioning as Object of Verb+ Subject + Verb :That is the person ''whose'' car I saw. For a discussion of adjective clauses in languages other than English, see Relative clause#Examples.

Punctuation

English punctuation

The punctuation of an adjective clause depends on whether it is essential (restrictive) or nonessential (non-restrictive) and uses commas accordingly. Essential clauses are not set off with commas; nonessential clauses are. An adjective clause is essential if the information it contains is necessary to the meaning of the sentence: *The vegetables ''that people often leave uneaten'' are usually the most nutritious. The word "vegetables" is non-specific. Accordingly, for the reader to know which are being mentioned, one must have the information provided in the adjective clause (in italics). Because it restricts the meaning of "vegetable", the adjective clause is called a restrictive clause. It is essential to the meaning of the main clause and uses no commas (and so does not experience a pause when spoken). However, if the additional information does not help to identify more narrowly the identity of the noun antecedent but rather simply provides further information about it, the adjective clause is nonrestrictive and so requires commas (or a spoken pause) to separate it from the rest of the sentence: *Broccoli, ''which people often leave uneaten'', is very nutritious. Depending on context, a particular noun could be modified by either a restrictive or nonrestrictive adjective clause. For example, while "broccoli" is modified nonrestrictively in the preceding sentence, it is modified restrictively in the following. *The broccoli ''which (''or'' that) people leave uneaten'' is often nutritious.

Adverbial clause

"He saw Mary ''when he was in New York''" and "They studied hard ''because they had a test''" both contain adverbial clauses (in italics). Adverbial clauses express ''when, why, where, opposition'', and ''conditions'', and, as with all dependent clauses, they cannot stand alone. For example, ''When he was in New York'' is not a complete sentence; it needs to be completed by an independent clause, as in: *He went to the Guggenheim Museum ''when he was in New York.'' or equivalently *''When he was in New York'', he went to the Guggenheim Museum.

Sentence structure

A ''

'' contains an

independent clause An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a ''simple sentence''. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself. Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or ...

and at least one dependent clause. A sentence with two or more independent clauses plus (one or more) dependent clauses is referred to as a '' compound-complex sentence''. (Every clause contains a subject and predicate.) Here are some English examples: My sister cried ''because she scraped her knee''. (complex sentence) *Subjects: My sister, she *Predicates: cried, scraped her knee *Subordinating conjunction: because ''When they told me'' ''(that) I won the contest'', I cried, but I didn't faint. (compound-complex sentence) *Subjects: they, I, I, I *Predicates: told me, won the contest, cried, didn't faint *Subordinating conjunctions: when, that (implied or understood) *Coordinating conjunction: but This sentence contains two dependent clauses: "When they told me", and "(that) I won the contest", the latter which serves as the object of the verb "told". The connecting word "that", if not explicitly included, is understood to implicitly precede "I won" and in either case functions as a subordinating conjunction. This sentence also includes two independent clauses, "I cried" and "I didn't faint", connected by the coordinating conjunction "but". The first dependent clause, together with its object (the second dependent clause), adverbially modifies the verbs of both main clauses.

Non-finite dependent clauses

Dependent clauses may be

headed Headed may refer to: *A headed phrase, in linguistics * Headed notepaper See also * * Head (disambiguation) The head is the part of an animal or human that usually includes the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Head or Heads may also refer to: ...

by an

infinitive Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...

gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...

, or other

non-finite verb A nonfinite verb is a derivative form of a verb unlike finite verbs. Accordingly, nonfinite verb forms are inflected for neither number nor person, and they cannot perform action as the root of an independent clause. In English, nonfinite verbs in ...

form, which in linguistics is called deranked. For instance: * Sit up straight ''while singing.'' In these cases, the subject of the dependent clause may take a non- nominative form. An example is: * I want ''him to vanish.''

References

External links

* Owl Online Writing Lab Archive
Identifying Independent and Dependent Clauses
{{Authority control Clauses English grammar