There are two major types of clauses.
• Main clause (independent)
• Subordinate clause (dependent)
Main Clause and Subordinate Clause – Comparison
He is buying a car which looks very nice.
The above sentence has two types of clause “He is buying a car” and “which looks very nice”. The clause “He is buying a car” shows a complete meaning and can stand as a sentence. Such a clause is called main clause (independent clause).
While the clause “which looks very nice” does not shows a complete meaning and can’t stand as a sentence. It depends on another clause (main clause) to express complete idea or meaning. Such a clause is called subordinate clause (dependent clause).
Main Clause (independent clause)
There are some more examples of main clause in the first part of the following sentences.
Examples:
I saw the boy who had helped me.
She is wearing a shirt which looks nice.
The teacher asked a question but no one answered.
He takes medicine because he suffers from fever.
He became extremely angry and smashed the vase into pieces.
In the above sentences each underlined part shows main clause which expresses complete idea or meaning and can stand as a sentence that is why a main or an independent clause is normally referred as a simple sentence.
Subordinate Clause (dependent)
Subordinate (or independent) clause does not express complete meaning and depends on another clause (main clause) to show complete thought.
Example:
He likes Pizza which tastes good.
The clause “which tastes good” in above sentence is a subordinate clause because it does not shows complete thought and can’t stand as a sentence. It depends on main clause (he likes Pizza) to express complete meaning.
Examples:
I saw the boy who had helped me.
She is wearing a shirt which looks nice.
The teacher asked a question but no one answered.
He takes medicine because he suffers from fever.
He became extremely angry and smashed the vase into pieces.
See also
