Definition of subordinate clause

The concept of clauses in linguistics dates back to the 18th century, when grammarians identified phrases in a sentence as either simple or compound. A simple clause contained a subject and predicate and expressed a complete thought, while a compound clause contained multiple simple clauses joined by a connector such as "and" or "or." In the late 18th century, grammar scholars began to recognize that some clauses were dependent on other clauses for their meaning. They called these dependent clauses "subordinate" to indicate their submission to the meaning of another clause, called the "principal" or "main" clause. The term "subordinate clause" therefore refers to a grammatical construct that contains a subject and predicate but cannot be used as a stand-alone sentence because it relies on another clause for its full meaning. The term "subordinate clause" can also be described as a type of embedded clause, which is a complete clause that is included within another clause, usually through subordination. Embedded clauses can take various forms, such as adjectival, adverbial, or noun clauses, and serve different functions in a sentence, such as modifying a noun, providing additional information, or expressing a purpose or condition. In summary, the term "subordinate clause" in linguistics refers to a grammatical construct that is dependent on another clause for its full meaning, and is a type of embedded clause used in a variety of structural and semantic roles.