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Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Clauses and Sentences

Main clause

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, main clause means: A clause that can stand alone as a complete sentence and carries the main idea, such as 'we cancelled the trip' in 'Because it rained, we cancelled the trip'.

In Turkish: temel cümle, ana cümle, ana tümce

How it is used

Also called an independent clause. Two main clauses can be joined with and, but or so, or with a semicolon; joining them with only a comma is a common error called a comma splice.

Example sentences

  1. Every complete sentence needs at least one main clause.

  2. In 'If you finish early, you can leave', the main clause is 'you can leave'.

Common collocations

  • independent clause
  • main and subordinate clauses
  • join two main clauses
  • comma splice
  • subordinate clauseA clause that depends on a main clause and cannot stand alone as a sentence, such as 'when the bell rang' or 'that she was right'.
  • clauseA group of words that contains a subject and a verb and forms a sentence or part of a sentence, such as 'because it was raining'.
  • sentenceA group of words that expresses a complete idea and is grammatically complete; in writing it starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark.
  • conjunctionA word that joins words, phrases or clauses, such as and, but, or, because, although and when.

More terms: Clauses and Sentences

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