English (Biplab Ghosh Blogs)

What is a Clause?

Tags:     English for UPSC     Noun     Write Correct English     Spoken English     Types of Sentences     Clause     Vocabulary     Spelling     Words Usage     Proverbs

A clause refers to an aggregation of correlated words containing a subject and a verb. So, it can stand alone as a sentence imparting a complete meaning. Hence, it is also referred to as a simple sentence. So, it can be safely said that each sentence should have a minimum of one clause. For example, He has been sleeping off the effects of the spirit. But a sentence may also have more than one clause. In such a case, each separate clause in the sentence will be joined by a conjunction. Albeit, the clauses may be of different types - main or, principal clause, subordinating clause, coordinating clause, and imperative clause. We are going to touch upon this, in some other article.

In the English language, the concept of clause is the most fundamental thing that a beginner of this language must learn. It is only after perceiving the concept of a clause that the learner will be able to proceed further into the nuances of sentence structure. Going forward, it will be difficult to transform a sentence according to its voice or, narration if one is not familiar with the concept of the clause. The most important chapter that takes care of the subject-verb agreement in any sentence also requires an understanding of the clause. Further, an intensive perception of the clause will make it easy to commence writing the English language at a later stage. If you have just started trying to decipher the structure of a sentence, the clause will be the perfect area to begin your endeavor.

The best part is that identifying the clauses can make you break the big sentences into small parts. This way, your comprehension of the big sentences shall improve in a very less time. Of course, the knowledge of conjunction is a must to identify the different clauses within the boundaries of big sentences. But again, knowing that conjunctions are fixed in the English language and not infinite, it is not that difficult and complex to identify them and demarcate the different clauses in big sentences. As you go about learning and practicing the parts of speech, tense, and syntax, you will find that the clause will be very precious to gaining a thorough insight into the language. This concept is significant especially for beginners who want to start with the fundamentals of the language and proceed gradually.

To sum up, the first thing that you need to do is to identify a group of inter-related words that imparts a complete meaning. Then, you try and find out a different group of words in the same sentence imparting a complete meaning. If you have, that means you have just stumbled upon a sentence that has more than one clause. Now, try to identify the connecting word between the groups. If you have identified the word correctly, that means you have just learned to identify the conjunction. This is indeed a great start in learning the structure of any sentence written in English.