Definition:
A group of words that contains a subject and a predicate. A clause may be either a sentence (independent clause) or a sentence-like construction included within another sentence (dependent clause).
Etymology:
From the Latin, "the close of a sentence or formula"Examples:
- "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."
(Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
(Note: "Life moves pretty fast" and "you could miss it" are independent clauses. "If you don't stop and look around once in awhile" is an adverb clause.) - "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
(George Orwell, Animal Farm)
(Note: Orwell's sentence contains two independent clauses joined by the conjunction "and." This combination is called a compound sentence.) - "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."
Virginia Woolf, "A Room of Her Own")
(Note: Woolf's sentence begins with an independent clause--"A woman must have money and a room of her own"--and ends with an adverb clause. This combination is called a complex sentence.) - "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."
(Martin Luther King, Jr.)
(Note: In King's sentence, the independent clause--"A man is not fit to live"--is interrupted by an adjective clause. This is another example of a complex sentence.) - "I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could follow the bent of my genius, which is a very crooked one, every moment."
(Henry David Thoreau)
(Note: Thoreau's sentence contains two independent clauses joined by the conjunction "for"; the second independent clause is interrupted by an adjective clause--"which is a very crooked one." This combination is called a compound-complex sentence.)
Pronunciation: klawz
