What is a Clause? Definition, Types and Functions of Clauses

Описание: A clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb (it has a subject and a predicate), and forms a simple sentence or part of non-simple sentence.

A clause is a major unit of grammar and we define it by the elements it could contain: the subject, predicator, complement and the adjunct. As the finite verb is the most central to a clause, it is necessary to identify a clause by its main verb.

Types of Clauses
In broad categorisations, there are two types of clauses. These include the main clause and the subordinate clause.

The Main Clause
This clause can stand alone as a complete thought or sentence. We call this type of clause Independent, Main or Alpha clause. This clause does not depend on another clause to fully express itself.

The Subordinate Clause
The subordinate clause is a type that does not express a complete thought and cannot stand alone in a sentence as a separate grammatical entity, since its meaning depends on the meaning of the main clause. A subordinate clause gives additional information to the main clause. Some types of linguistic items we generally refer to as subordinators or subordinating conjunctions introduce the subordinate clause in a sentence.

Sometimes, the words, on their own, could also be adverbs. These subordinators include: when, unless, after, before, despite, while, that, whom, whose, who, which, if, though, although, because, etc. In describing the subordinate clause, which cannot stand on its own, we also refer to it as the dependent or Beta clause.

Noun Clause
A noun clause has to do with the Beta Clause, which we also call a dependent or subordinate clause which performs the function of a noun in a sentence or functions like the nominal group.

Adjectival/Relative Clause
This Clause does the work of adjectives and by this, it attracts the name, adjectival clause. Adjectives are words that describe or give more information about nouns or pronouns in a sentence. It is called a Relative Clause because it is introduced by relative pronouns.

Adverbial Clauses
Adverbial clauses are of various types and they perform the same function of modifying the verb in the sentences in which they occur.