subordinate clause

noun

, Grammar.

1. a clause that modifies the principal clause or some part of it or that serves a noun function in the principal clause, as when she arrived in the sentence I was there when she arrived or that she has arrived in the sentence I doubt that she has arrived.

subordinate clause

noun

1. grammar a clause with an adjectival, adverbial, or nominal function, rather than one that functions as a separate sentence in its own right Compare coordinate clause main clause

Example Sentences

A subordinate clause to these statements, drawn from Pages 9 and 10 of the Mueller report, would help illuminate the troubling reasons Mueller postulated for his findings of insufficient evidence:

From Washington Post

“One yearns for a subordinate clause, a compound-complex sentence being too much to hope for,” he observed.

From Washington Post

And the stakes are high: This might be the only novel in which a character has ever used “now that I hadn’t killed anyone” as a subordinate clause.

From New York Times

In nine words, it has just one subordinate clause: “why it would be”.

From Economist

Westwood was asked a polite question about his 25-hour round; unfortunately, the question contained a subordinate clause.

From Washington Post