subordinate clause

Question

How to know if a clause is a subordinate clause or not?Please cite some examples.I have this confusion while placing the comma after or before one.Thanks

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

I believe that a subordinate clause is introduced by a conjunction.

I will come if I have time.

"If I have time" is the subordinate clause. That is, it depends on the main clause to make sense. If you walked up to someone and said, "If I have time," it would make no sense. The other person would ask: What are you talking about?
You would then explain that I will come if I have time. Do you see how "if I have time" depends on the main clause to make sense?

Regarding punctuation, we just follow rules that often change.

If I have time, I will come. (A comma is usually used when the subordinate clause comes first.)

I will come if I have time. (If the subordinate clause is at the end, we often do not have to use a comma. But there are exceptions to this rule.)

Addyaddy · Answer

Thank you, could you please give me some of those exceptions you have mentioned at the end of your answer.

Anonymous · Answer

I found this in College Handbook of Composition:

A subordinate clause which precedes its principal clause is usually followed by commas:

If you have time, please telephone me from the station. [This is an old book that I used in college in the 1950's. That's why it says "telephone" instead of "text" and [railroad] "station" instead of "airport"!]

When the subordinate clause follows the principal clause, a comma is usually NOT necessary unless the clause is nonrestrictive.

Telephone me from the station if you have time. (No comma because the clause IS restrictive/defining.)

*****

Nonrestrictive (therefore a comma):

The book was still lying on the kitchen table, where I had left it the night before.

Restrictive (therefore no comma):

The book was lying where I had left it.

*****

Forgot to give the authors' names for this information: Edwin C. Woolley, Franklin W. Scott, and Frederick Bracher.

BillJ · Answer

There are several ways of identifying a subordinate clause, but not all subordinate clauses require commas. The clause may be:

1. Introduced by a subordinating conjunction (subordinator): "You know that he is lying".

2. The complement of a preposition: "I left because I was bored".

3. Missing a constituent such as a subject (and non-finite): "Having finished his lunch, Ed took a nap".

4. A relative clause marked as such by a wh word: "That is the boy who had his bike stolen".

5. Subordinate by virtue of its function in a larger construction: "When I was in town, I picked up the dry-cleaning".

6. The combination of an initial interrogative word, and uninverted order for what follows: "It's obvious why she resigned".

Note that a comma is not a marker of subordination. Some subordinate clauses require one (e.g. 3, 5), while others clearly don't.

There are a few others, but those are some of the most common markers.

BillJ

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