Definition:
Words, phrases, and clauses that make one element of a sentence dependent on (or subordinate to) another. See also:
- Hypotaxis
- Subordinate Clause
- Subordinating Conjunction
- Building Sentences with Adverb Clauses
- Subordination in Bernard Malamud's A New Life
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to set in order"Examples and Observations:
- "While the miser is merely a capitalist gone mad, the capitalist is a rational miser."
(Karl Marx) - "You'd better beat it. You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff."
(Groucho Marx) - "Unless one is inordinately fond of subordination, one is always at war."
(Philip Roth) - "Subordination-heavy sentences are probably our most common type of sentence, either spoken or written, though they are more complicated than they may seem at first glance. In fact, this sentence by Thomas Cahill seems quite ordinary until we examine it more closely:
In the time-honored fashion of the ancient world, he opens the book at random, intending to receive as a divine message the first sentence his eyes should fall upon. -- How the Irish Saved Civilization (57)
Cahill's basic sentence about St. Augustine is 'he opened the book.' But the sentence begins with two orienting prepositional phrases ('In the time-honored fashion' and 'of the ancient world') and adds detail at the end with a prepositional phrase ('at random') and a participial phrase ('intending . . .'). There is also an infinitive phrase ('to receive . . .') and a subordinate clause ('his eyes should fall upon'). For the reader, comprehending this sentence is much simpler than describing it."
(Donna Gorrell, Style and Difference, Houghton Mifflin, 2005)
Pronunciation: sub-BOR-di-NA-shun
