What is a clause in English Grammar?

Answer: In English grammar, a clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate or verb that functions as a complete thought or idea.

Clauses are the building blocks of sentences and they can be classified into two main types: Independent clauses and Dependent clauses.

• An independent clause, also known as a main clause, is a complete sentence on its own. It expresses a complete thought and can stand alone. For example, “She went to the store.”
• A dependent clause, also called a subordinate clause, cannot stand alone as a complete sentence. It relies on an independent clause for meaning and is introduced by subordinating conjunctions. For example, “Although she was tired, she went to the store.” Here, “Although she was tired” cannot stand alone and needs the independent clause for a complete thought.

Clauses can be combined to form various sentence structures, including simple sentences with one independent clause, compound sentences with two or more independent clauses, and complex sentences with one independent clause and one or more dependent clauses.