Word subordinate in a sentence

Definition of Subordinate

under the command of those with a greater position or rank

Examples of Subordinate in a sentence

Many women still believe they should be subordinate to their husbands and do everything they are told.

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Before the ownership of humans was outlawed, slaves were always supposed to be subordinate to their owners.

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The subordinate soldiers followed their commander’s orders without hesitation.

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In prison, the inmates are reprimanded if they are not subordinate to the guards and other facility officials.

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During the movement for women’s rights, protests were held to elevate women from their positions as second-class citizens.

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Other words in the Positions category:

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Synonym: dependent, inferior, secondary. Antonym: co-ordinate. Similar words: coordinate, coordinator, ordinary, extraordinary, recording, according, according to, dominate. Meaning: [sə’bɔːdnɪt]  n. 1. an assistant subject to the authority or control of another 2. a word that is more specific than a given word. v. 1. rank or order as less important or consider of less value 2. make subordinate, dependent, or subservient. adj. 1. lower in rank or importance 2. subject or submissive to authority or the control of another 3. (of a clause) unable to stand alone syntactically as a complete sentence 4. inferior in rank or status. 

1. What is a Subordinate Clause?

A subordinate clause or dependent clause is a clause that can’t exist as a sentence on its own. Like all clauses, it has a subject and a predicate, but it doesn’t share a complete thought. A subordinate clause only gives extra information and is “dependent” on other words to make a full sentence.

2. Examples of Subordinate Clauses

A subordinate clause makes a sentence more detailed. Here are some examples:

• After the dog ran This clause answers the question “when?”
• Because he ate popcorn This clause answers the question “why?”
• Whoever is watching the dog This clause represents a person
• The dog that eats popcorn This clause answers the question “which dog?”

3. Parts of Subordinate Clauses

Subordinate clauses are introduced by subordinate conjunctions and relative pronouns.

a. Subordinate conjunctions

Subordinate conjunctions help the transition between two parts of a sentence with words expressing things like place and time.

Here are some of the most common subordinate conjunctions:

• After
• As
• As long as
• Although
• Because
• Before
• Even if
• Even though
• If
• Now
• Now that
• Once
• Since
• Than
• Though
• Unless
• Until
• When
• Whenever
• Whereas
• Wherever
• Whether
• While
• Whoever

b. Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are words like which, whichever, whatever, that, who, whoever, and whose. They introduce a dependent clause. They are called “relative” because they are related to the topic of the sentence. For example, “the person who” or “whoever eats;” or “the house that” or “whichever house.”

4. Types of Subordinate Clauses

A subordinate clause can work as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb in a sentence. So, there are three types of dependent clauses: noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses. Remember, none of them can be complete sentences on their own!

a. Noun Clause

A noun clause is a group of words that acts as a noun in a sentence. They begin with relative pronouns like “how,” “which,” “who,” or “what,” combined with a subject and predicate. For example:

The dog can eat what he wants.

Here, “what he wants” stands as a noun for what the dog can eat. It’s a noun clause because it has a subject (he) and a predicate (wants). Here’s another:

Whoever gave the dog popcorn is in trouble!

“Whoever gave the dog popcorn” is the noun in the sentence, meaning the person who gave the dog popcorn.

To be sure of the noun clause in a sentence, you can switch it with a single noun and the sentence will still make sense, like this:

The dog can eat popcorn.

Sally is in trouble!

b. Adjective Clause

An adjective is a descriptive word. Adjective clauses are groups of words that act as an adjective in a sentence. They have a pronoun (who, that, which) or an adverb (what, where, why) and a verb; or, a pronoun or an adverb that serves as subject and a verb. They should answer questions like “what kind?” or “which one?” and follow one of two patterns: Pronoun/adverb + subject + verb, or pronoun/adverb as subject + verb.

For example:

Whichever flavor of popcorn you have

Whichever (pronoun) + flavor (subject) + have (verb) is an adjective clause that describes the popcorn. As you can see, it’s not a full sentence.

The dog is the one who ate the popcorn.

“Who” (pronoun acting as subject) + “ate” (verb) is an adjective clause that describes the dog.

c. Adverb clause

An adverb clause is a group of words that work as an adverb in a sentence, answering questions asking “where?”, “when,” “how?” and “why?” They begin with a subordinate conjuction.

The dog ran until he got to the county fair.

This sentence answers the question “how long did the dog run?” with the adverb clause “until he got to the county fair.”

After the dog arrived he ate popcorn.

With the adverb clause “after the dog arrived,” this sentence answers, “when did the dog eat popcorn?”

5. How to Write a Subordinate Clause and Avoid Mistakes

As you’re learning how to write a subordinate clause, it’s important to review the things that it always needs:

• A subject
• A verb
• A subordinate conjunction or relative adverb

A subordinate clause can be at the beginning of a sentence or the end of a sentence, so long as it is paired with an independent clause. That’s because, as mentioned, it only adds extra details to sentence. So, start with an independent clause:

The dog ate.

Next, add some extra details—remember: we need to include another subject and verb to make a subordinate clause.

The dog ate whatever he wanted to.

This full sentence uses the noun clause “whatever he wanted to.” It begins with a subordinate conjunction, followed by a subject (he) and a verb (wanted). It needs the first part of the sentence to be complete.

To avoid mistakes with subordinate clauses, always remember: a subordinate clause is never a full sentence on its own. Therefore, the most common mistake you can make is a fragment sentence (an incomplete sentence). That’s because a subordinate clause doesn’t express a complete thought. For example:

Whoever gave the dog popcorn. This is a fragment sentence.

Though it has a subject (whoever) and a verb (gave), it isn’t complete. It doesn’t express a whole thought, and leaves the question, “what happened to whoever gave the dog popcorn?” So, we need to add information:

Whoever gave the dog popcorn is in trouble! This is a complete sentence.

Coordination
and Subordination are
ways of combining words, phrases, and clauses into more complex
forms.

Two
elements are «coordinated» when they are at the same
level, providing information that is somehow equal.

In linguistics, subordination (abbreviated variously subord, sbrd, subr or sr)
is a principle of the hierarchical organization of linguistic units.
The syntactic units are often either subordinate or coordinate to
each other.

Coordination:
coordinate phrases consist of two or more syntactically equivalent
units joined in a cluster which functions as a single unit. The
member units can be potentially joined together by means of a
coordinate conjunction.

Subordination:
subordinate phrases are structures in which one of the members is
syntactically the leading element of the phrase. This dominating
element is called the head-word, or the kernel, and can be expressed
by different parts of speech.

Coordinative
phrases

— The
elements are equal in their status

— Are used
to expand sentence components but not to build the structure of the
sentence

— Are built
either (1) with the help of conjunctions ex-

pressing
coordination (^ the relation is formally marked)

or (2)
without conjunctions

Subordinative
phrases

the main
type of phrase in any language

— The
elements are not equal in their status: a head
word
+
one or more ad­juncts

— Are used
to build the structure of the sentence

— Are built
either (1) with
the help of prepositions expressing subordination (the de­pendence
is formally marked)or (2) without prepositions

Synthetical
relations between the components of a phrase

agreement –
method of expressing a synthectical relationship which consist in
making the subordinate word take a similar form of the head word //
this book, those books as to the problem of agreement of the verb
with the noun and pronoun denoting the subject of the action // a
child plays, children play – usually treated on the sentence level

government –
the use of certain form of subordinate word required by its head
word but not coinciding with the form of the head word. Only case in
ENG – personal pronouns // invite him

adjoinment –
the connection between these words is preserved owning to the
grammatical and semantic compatibility of the adv. Only verb + adv

enclosure –
some element of a phrase is enclosed between 2 parts of another
element

18.
THE PARTS OF SPEECH PROBLEM. WORD CLASSES

The
parts of speech are classes of words, all the members of these
classes having certain characteristics in common which distinguish
them from the members of other classes. The attitude of grammarians
with regard to parts of speech and the basis of their classification
varied a good deal at different times. Only in English grammarians
have been vacillating between 3 and 13 parts of speech. There are
four approaches to the problem:

1. Classical
   (logical-inflectional)

2. Functional

3. Distributional

4. Complex

The
classical
parts of speech theory goes back to ancient times. It is based on
Latin grammar. According to the Latin classification of the parts of
speech all words were divided dichotomically into declinable
and
indeclinable
parts
of speech. The first of these groups, declinable words, included
nouns, pronouns, verbs and participles, the second – indeclinable
words – adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. The
logical-inflectional classification is quite successful for Latin or
other languages with developed morphology and synthetic paradigms
but it cannot be applied to the English language because the
principle of declinability/indeclinability is not relevant for
analytical languages.

A
new approach to the problem was introduced in the XIX century by
Henry Sweet. He took into account the peculiarities of the English
language. This approach may be defined as functional.
He resorted to the functional features of words and singled out
nominative units and particles. To nominative
parts of speech belonged noun-words
(noun, noun-pronoun, noun-numeral, infinitive, gerund),
adjective-words
(adjective, adjective-pronoun, adjective-numeral, participles), verb
(finite verb, verbals – gerund, infinitive, participles), while
adverb,
preposition,
conjunction
and interjection
belonged to the group of particles.
However, though the criterion for classification was functional,
Henry Sweet failed to break the tradition and classified words into
those having morphological forms and lacking morphological forms, in
other words, declinable and indeclinable.

A
distributional
approach
to
the parts to the parts of speech classification can be illustrated
by the classification introduced by Charles Fries. He wanted to
avoid the traditional terminology and establish a classification of
words based on distributive analysis, that is, the ability of words
to combine with other words of different types. At the same time,
the lexical meaning of words was not taken into account. According
to Charles Fries, the words in such sentences as 1. Woggles ugged
diggles; 2. Uggs woggled diggs; and 3. Woggs diggled uggles are
quite evident structural signals, their position and combinability
are enough to classify them into three word-classes. In this way, he
introduced four major classes
of words
and 15 form-classes.
Let us see how it worked. Three test frames
formed
the basis for his analysis:

Frame
A — The concert was good (always);

Frame
B — The clerk remembered the tax (suddenly);

Frame
C – The team went there.

It
turned out that his four classes of words were practically the same
as traditional nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. What is really
valuable in Charles Fries’ classification is his investigation of
15 groups of function words (form-classes) because he was the first
linguist to pay attention to some of their peculiarities.

All
the classifications mentioned above appear to be one-sided because
parts of speech are discriminated on the basis of only one aspect of
the word: either its meaning or its form, or its function.

In
modern linguistics, parts of speech are discriminated according to
three criteria: semantic, formal and functional. This approach may
be defined as complex.
The semantic
criterion presupposes the grammatical meaning of the whole class of
words (general grammatical meaning). The formal
criterion
reveals paradigmatic properties: relevant grammatical categories,
the form of the words, their specific inflectional and derivational
features. The functional
criterion
concerns the syntactic function of words in the sentence and their
combinability. Thus, when characterizing any part of speech we are
to describe: a) its semantics; b) its morphological features; c) its
syntactic peculiarities.

The
linguistic evidence drawn from our grammatical study makes it
possible to divide all the words of the language into:

1. those
   denoting things, objects, notions, qualities, etc. – words with
   the corresponding references in the objective reality – notional
   words;

2. those
   having no references of their own in the objective reality; most of
   them are used only as grammatical means to form up and frame
   utterances – function
   words,
   or grammatical
   words.

It
is commonly recognized that the notional parts of speech are nouns,
pronouns, numerals, verbs, adjectives, adverbs; the functional parts
of speech are articles, particles, prepositions, conjunctions and
modal words.

The
division of language units into notion and function words reveals
the interrelation of lexical and grammatical types of meaning. In
notional words the lexical meaning is predominant. In function words
the grammatical meaning dominates over the lexical one. However, in
actual speech the border line between notional and function words is
not always clear cut. Some notional words develop the meanings
peculiar to function words — e.g. seminotional words – to
turn, to get, etc.

Notional
words constitute the bulk of the existing word stock while function
words constitute a smaller group of words. Although the number of
function words is limited (there are only about 50 of them in Modern
English), they are the most frequently used units.

Russian
academician V.V.Vinogradov defined the class of adverbs in the
Russian language as мусорная
куча.
It can be explained by the fact that to the class of adverbs belong
those words that cannot find their place anywhere else. At the same
time, there are no grounds for grouping them together either.
Compare: perfectly
(She speaks English perfectly)
and
again
(He is here again).
Examples are numerous (all temporals). There are some words that do
not belong anywhere — e.g. after
all.
Speaking about after
all
it should be mentioned that this unit is quite often used by native
speakers, and practically never by our students. Some more striking
examples: anyway,
actually, in fact

19,20.
. Notional words and function words in Modern English.

Parts
of speech are traditionally subdivided into notional &
functional ones. Notional parts of speech have both lexical &
grammatical meanings (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, numerals,
statives, pronouns, modal words). Functional parts of speech are
characterized mainly by the grammatical meaning while their lexical
meaning is either lost completely or has survived in a very weakened
form.

Functional
parts of speech—the article, the preposition, the conjunction.
Notional parts of speech are characterized by word-building &
word-changing properties; functional words have no formal features &
they should be memorized as ready-made units (but, since, till,
until). Another most important difference between functional &
notional parts of speech is revealed on the level of sentence. Where
every notional word performs a certain synthetic function while
functional words have no synthetic function at all. They serve as
indicators of a certain part of speech (to + verb; a, the + noun).
Prepositions are used to connect 2 words & conjunctions to
connect 2 clauses or sentences.

Ilyish
=>
Some grammarians think that words should be divided into two
categories on the following principle:

notional
words denote things, actions and other extra-linguistic phenomena

functional
words denote relations and connections between the notional words

This
view is shaky, because functional words can also express smth
extra-linguistic:

e.g.
The
letter is on the table.

The
letter is in the table.
(diff. prepositions express different relations between objects)

The
match was called off
because it
was raining.
(the conjunction because
denotes the causal
connection between two processes).

Some
words belonging to a particular part of speech may perform a
function differing from that which characterizes the p/of/sp as a
whole.

e.g.
I
have some money left.
(have
– a notional word)

I
have found a dog.
(have
– an auxiliary verb used to form a certain analytical form of the
verb to
find,
i.e. it is a functional verb)

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Subordinate clauses are clauses that don’t form a simple sentence on their own, and are connected to the main clause of a sentence. In a way, they’re like little kids. They can’t be left alone and, often, their words don’t really make sense. See for yourself:

• Because I arrived after the monster.

• Since he took all the good candy for himself.

Confused? That’s an appropriate response.

That confusion isn’t your fault—it’s just the nature of unaccompanied subordinate clauses. They contain subjects and verbs, but can’t stand on their own as complete sentences. They need help to express a complete thought. Until they get that help, these clauses won’t make much sense.

What Is a Clause?

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. There are two main categories of clauses.

You’ve already been introduced to the subordinate, also called dependent, clause. To have a full understanding of how dependent clauses work, it’s important to understand the other category: independent clauses.

An independent clause can stand alone as a simple sentence. It expresses a complete thought. A dependent clause cannot.

An independent clause has three components:

• A subject, which tells us “who” or “what” completes or performs the verb.
• A verb, which shows the action or state of being of the subject.
• A complete thought. At the end of an independent clause, you’ll know who did what or what happened.

Examples of Independent Clauses

In these examples, the subjects are bold, and the verbs are highlighted.

• Joe ran the race.
• He came in third place!
• He ran against two other people.
• Joe lost.

Poor Joe—but hey, applause to him for trying! And, his loss has allowed us to observe the three components of independent clauses. Take that win, Joe!

What Is a Subordinate Clause?

Subordinate, or dependent, clauses also contain a subject and verb, but they do not express a complete thought. They cannot stand alone as sentences. Dependent clauses can only exist in complete sentences when connected to an independent clause.

Let’s revisit those dependent clauses, in bold, from the opening of the post. This time, we’ll connect them with independent clauses and clear up the confusion they left us with.

• Because I was behind the monster, all I got was old candy corn from that last house.

• There wasn’t really anything left for me since he took all the good candy for himself.

See that? With a little hand-holding from independent clauses, the subordinate clause makes sense. It does its job, which is to add information to the independent clause. The dependent clause can’t stand by itself, but it does add meaning to a sentence.

How to Use Subordinate Clauses in Sentences

There are three types of subordinate clauses: adverb, noun, and adjective.

Adverb Clauses

Predictably, adverb clauses function as adverbs; they explain where, when, why, how, and to what extent, and modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

Adverb clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions, which are words that link dependent and independent clauses by establishing a relationship between the two clauses. The relationship can be based on time or place, condition, concession, cause/effect, and comparison/contrast.

Some common subordinating conjunctions are because, since, if, whenever, even if, until, while, as long as, and though.

The earlier examples of subordinate clauses, the ones about the monster situation, are adverb clauses; these adverb clauses answer “why?”

• Because I was behind the monster (explains or modifies why I didn’t get any candy)
• Since he took all the good candy for himself (explains or modifies why there wasn’t anything left)

In those examples, the dependent clause comes before the independent clause, so a comma is required after the dependent clause.

Here are a few more examples of subordinate adverb clauses. In these, the independent clause comes first, so no comma is required.

• You can go to the party as long as you come home on time.
• I lose track of time whenever I go to parties.
• Don’t lose track this time if you want to be allowed out again.

Noun Clauses

Noun clauses function as nouns, representing a person, place, thing, or idea. Noun clauses often start with how, that, or wh- words (why, who, what, whoever, etc.) They can also start with subordinating conjunctions. Noun clauses aren’t set off from the sentence with commas. For example:

Wherever you want to eat is fine with me.

In this example, “wherever you want to eat” is the subject of the sentence; it’s a noun clause representing a place.

It could be swapped out for an actual place: “Village Pizzeria is fine with me.”

Here are a few more examples of noun clauses:

• What the best man said made the groom laugh.
• Whoever gets the role will do a wonderful job.
• Do you know how far that is?
• I don’t get what you mean.
• They now understand that lying is wrong.

Adjective Clauses

You can probably guess that adjective clauses function as adjectives. They modify nouns or pronouns and answer “which one?” or “what kind?”

Adjective clauses are also called relative clauses since they usually start with a relative pronoun. Examples of relative pronouns include that, where, when, who, whom, whose, which, and why.

Essential and Non-Essential Adjective Clauses

Some adjective clauses are an essential, or necessary, part of a sentence. Without them, the meaning of the sentence would change. For essential clauses, no punctuation is required. For example:

• The peaches that we picked the other day have rotted.
• I don’t like people who speak unkindly about others.

If you removed the relative clauses, the meanings of their respective sentences could be unclear or would change entirely.

In the first example, the adjective clause that we picked the other day identifies which peaches the speaker is talking about. If “we” had picked some peaches and bought others from the store, that clause is essential for identifying which peaches have gone bad.

In the second example, removing the clause would leave the sentence like this: “I don’t like people.” But that’s a distortion of the speaker’s meaning. Therefore, the adjective clause is essential for conveying the sentence’s actual meaning.

Non-essential adjective clauses simply add information about the noun they modify, but their presence or absence does not change the meaning of the sentence. Non-essential clauses provide extra, but not absolutely necessary, information, and are surrounded with commas. For example:

• The student, who had done really well all semester, missed the final exam.
• The wine, which is quite expensive, is delicious.

In the first example, the point is that the student missed the exam. In the second, the point is that the wine is delicious. The subordinate clauses in each sentence simply provide additional information about the student and the wine, respectively.

FYI: Essential and non-essential clauses are also called restrictive or non-restrictive clauses.

Subordinate Clauses and Your Writing

Subordinate clauses provide opportunities to add variety to your sentence structure, and variety makes your writing more interesting, engaging, and sophisticated overall.

ProWritingAid’s Sentence Length Report shows you your sentence length variety across your document. This gives you valuable clues as to which sentence type you use most often; simple, compound, or complex.

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This allows you to see where you may have used too many similar sentence starts and sentence structures.

But how do you fix poor variety? Thankfully, subordinate clauses can help. You can connect subordinate clauses to independent clauses in different ways to create complex or compound-complex sentences.

To create a complex sentence, connect a dependent clause (or more than one) to an independent clause. Here are a couple of examples:

• Once we get to the beach, I’ll be able to de-stress!
• When I lie down on the sand, which will be soft and warm, my muscles will relax.

To create a compound-complex sentence, connect a subordinate clause (or more than one) to two (or more) independent clauses. For example:

• Though I might not go into the ocean, I’ll be soothed by the sound of the soft waves, and I’ll let those gentle sounds take the place of all the noise in my head while I lie still with my eyes closed.

• Even though I have so many things to do, I know I need to take time to regroup, so I will spend a day at the beach, which will leave me refreshed and energized.

Subordinate clauses may be problematic when left on their own, but with an independent clause to help them stand, they bring interest, variety, and creativity to your work. Use them well!

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What is the Subordinate clause?

A subordinate clause is a clause that itself contains a subject and a verb, but it cannot stand alone as a separate sentence apart from the main sentence. It usually complements the main clause of the sentence and gives a special meaning to that particular sentence.

A subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause as it needs the support of the main clause in a sentence to give a strong meaning. A subordinate clause also acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb in a sentence according to the need or requirement. 

It contains a subject and a verb in a clause, as other clauses contain. A subordinate clause that acts as a noun in any sentence then that clause is called the subordinate clause. This clause can act as a noun either in the place of a subject or an object, respectively. Noun clauses usually start with words like that, what, whatever, whoever, whomever, whom, etc. 

Parts of Subordinating clause

The subordinating clause has two different parts of the Subordinating clause, which is introduced by the Subordinate conjunctions and the Relative pronouns, respectively.

Subordinate Conjunctions

Subordinate conjunction is a part of a subordinating clause that helps the transition between two distinct parts of any particular sentence with a combination of words that are used to express things such as place and time.

Some common subordinate conjunction words,

• After, As, as long as, although, even though, even if, before, because, since, once, now that, now, if, unless, though, than, since, whereas, whenever, when, until, while, whether, wherever, whereas, whoever, etc.

Examples of Subordinate Conjunctions

1. I’m waiting here because it’s raining outside.
2. Jimmy is a handsome guy, and he is rich also.
3. She met me when I was traveling on the metro.
4. Did he tell you anything before he died?
5. Once you play this game, you will become addicted to it.

Relative Pronoun

The relative pronoun is a word that is used to introduce the dependent clause or subordinating clause. These words correlate the sentence to the topic with the subordinating clause, so they are called relative pronouns.

For example, 

• Which, whose, whoever, whichever, who, whatever, that, etc. are used to introduce the dependent clause in a sentence.

Examples of Relative Pronoun

1. The Government caught a person who works as an agent for another country.
2. I am taking you to that place which you don’t know anything about.
3. Samuels, who worked as an architect, lived in this place for so long.
4. I don’t understand why she left me in the middle of our wedding.
5. He is Jonathan, whose father is a renowned businessperson.

Also, a subordinating clause is used in a sentence as a noun, adjective, or adverb. There are three subordinating clause types, noun clause, adjective clause, and adverb clause, respectively.

Noun clause

A noun clause is a group of words that performs like a noun in a sentence. This clause begins with relative pronouns like “what, which, who, and how,” along with a subject and a predicate of a sentence. 

For example, 

• He believed that I would help him.
• She won’t know if her husband is at home.
• I don’t know who he is.
• My friend knows that we always celebrate together.
• He knows how to start this old vehicle.

Adjective clause

An adjective clause of a dependent clause acts as a descriptive adjective word in a sentence. It contains a pronoun ( who, which, that), an adverb (what, why, where), and a verb that follows a pattern such as,

• Pronoun/adverb + subject + verb
• pronoun/adverb acts as a subject + verb.

For example,

1. Robin is the only one who jumps from this height.
2. He is trying to know the secret of what she wanted to tell us?
3. I saw the thief who robbed the bank last night.
4. A book that is on the table is hers.
5. I like people who work out daily.

Adverb Clause

A group of words is called an adverb clause, which performs a function as an adverb in any sentence, which asks questions like “where?”, “why?”, and “how?” respectively with a beginning of subordinate conjunction.

For example,

1. Before you leave, meet me at the cabin.
2. Unless you perform on the stage, you will not win.
3. Even though he works daily, the owner always exploits him.
4. Place this at its place where you bring it from.
5. Get ready fast so that we can proceed to leave.

Main Subordinate Clause Takeaways:

• A subordinate clause contains a noun and a verb.
• This type of clause is also called a dependent clause since it doesn’t make sense by itself.
• One easy trick for remembering the difference is to look at the prefix (“sub” means under or below).
• On the other hand, independent clauses do make sense by themselves. In fact, they work as stand-alone sentences (not “sub” or below any other clause).
• As a part of speech, subordinate clauses can be nouns, adverbs, and adjectives.
• Subordinating conjunctions connect subordinate clauses with main clauses. Examples include because, while, and although.
• You can start a sentence with a subordinating clause.

In this guide, we’ll dive into just one type of clause: the subordinate clause.

What is a Subordinate Clause?

A subordinate clause, also known as a dependent clause, relies on the main clause to have meaning. While it contains a subject and a verb, it can not stand alone as a complete sentence. Simply put, the main clause can make sense or be considered a complete sentence without another clause. Meanwhile, a subordinate clause will not make sense without the main clause.

What is an Example of a Subordinate Clause?

Here are more subordinate clause examples:

How Do You Identify a Main Clause and a Subordinate Clause in a Sentence?

For you to easily identify the main clause and the subordinate clause in a sentence, you first need to know what they are and their differences. Let’s start with the main clause.

The main clause or the independent clause is a group of words that expresses a complete thought. It has a subject and a predicate that together allow it to stand on its own, thus, the moniker independent clause.

On the other hand, a subordinate clause depends on another clause for it to mean something. It is normally joined to the main clause with asubordinating conjunction like while, but, or because. Since a subordinate clause needs another clause for it to make sense to readers, it is also referred to as a dependent clause.

Below are examples of sentences containing a main clause and a subordinate clause. The subordinate clauses will be highlighted in bold text.

Can You Start a Sentence with a Subordinate Clause?

You can start a sentence with a subordinate clause (Since I was up early, I decided to go for a long walk). Or, it can go later in the sentence (I decided to go for a walk since I was up early). Other than the position of the clause, you’ll notice that the main difference between these two constructions is a comma; If the subordinate clause comes at the beginning of the sentence, you need to place a comma after it. However, if the subordinate clause comes later, you don’t need a comma with this clause.

Do You Put a Comma Before a Subordinate Clause?

You don’t need to put a comma before a subordinate clause (We love cooking with garlic even though it’s an intense flavor). However, when it comes at the beginning of sentence, you do need a comma after the subordinate clause (Even though it’s an intense flavor, we love cooking with garlic).

How Do You Identify a Subordinate Clause in a Sentence?

To identify a subordinate clause in a sentence, look for a clause that 1) starts with a subordinating conjunction (like because, while, and considering) or a relative pronoun (like who, whoever, whenever); 2) contains a noun and a verb; 3) doesn’t form a complete sentence. They can appear at the beginning or later on in a sentence, but subordinate clauses always have a few key elements in common.

🤔 Like all clauses, subordinate clauses have a subject and a verb. However, unlike some clauses, subordinate clauses don’t form a complete sentence.

Subordinate clauses are easy to spot. They begin with subordinating conjunctions or dependent pronouns (also called relative pronouns), and they contain both a subject and a verb. Instead of forming complete sentences by themselves, subordinate clausescontribute information to main (or independent) clauses.

The subordinating conjunction and dependent pronouns in all the following examples of subordinate clauses are bold to make them easier to spot.

📝 Relative pronouns are also called dependent pronouns.

First, you’ll see the subordinate clause example. Then, we’ll join this example with an independent clause to form a full sentence.

Subordinate clauses don’t appear in all sentences. Some sentences are made of two (or more) independent clauses instead. When two clauses are equally important, you use a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so) to bring them together.

What are the 3 Subordinate Clauses?

The three types of subordinate clauses are: noun, adverb and adjective clauses. This basically means that we can treat a subordinate clause as an entire unit of a sentence rather than just a noun and verb pieced together. When we do, this entire unit can act as a noun, adverb, or even an adjective.

For instance, when a subordinate clause is the subject, direct object, prepositional object, or predicate nominative, its a noun clause. Similarly, when it modifies verbs, adverbs, and adjectives, it’s an adverb clause. Finally, when it modifies nouns and pronouns, it’s an adjective clause.

1. Noun Clause Examples

2. Adverb Clause Examples

3. Adjective Clause Examples

How Do You Use Subordinate Clause in a Sentence?

Use a subordinate clause in a sentence to provide more information or details about the main clause. They don’t make sense by themselves. They need a buddy — a main clause — to become part of a sentence. Connect a subordinate clause with a main clause using either a subordinating conjunction (while, although, since) or a dependent pronoun, like this:

In each example, the subordinate clause tells us why the main clause happens, or to whom or what the main clause applies.

Does a Subordinate Clause Need a Verb?

Subordinate clauses need a noun and a verb. What’s more, they also need an independent, or main, clause to make sense. This means that even though a subordinate clause contains a noun and a verb, it can’t make a complete sentence without a main clause.

What is a Subordination Clause?

A subordination clause is not the same thing as a subordinate clause. One one hand, a subordination clause is a contractual provision that gives one claim on a debt precedence over other claims that come later. This type of legal clause usually appears in mortgage refinancing agreements. On the other hand, a subordinate clause is a clause comprised of a noun and a verb. Unlike an independent clause, subordinate clauses cannot stand alone as a sentence.

While there is some conceptual overlap, there is a clear difference between the meanings and the usages of these words. For example, associate a subordination clause with other debts being subordinate to the main one.

Similarly, associate subordinate clause with a clause being subordinate to the main one.

There may be four different types of sentences: simple, compound, complex and compound-complex, but they all have one thing in common; they’re all made of clauses.

Some sentences contain just one independent clause, while others feature both independent and dependent clauses.

Test Your Mastery of Subordinate Clause

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