Clauses | Year 7 | Grasp English

💡Understand

A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a verb. A MAIN clause can stand alone as a complete sentence (e.g. 'The rain stopped'). A SUBORDINATE clause cannot stand alone — it depends on a main clause to make complete sense (e.g. 'because the rain stopped' isn't a full sentence on its own). Understanding this distinction is the foundation for building simple, compound and complex sentences correctly, and for punctuating them accurately.

“Because the rain stopped, the match continued.”

'Because the rain stopped' is a subordinate clause — it can't stand alone as a sentence. 'The match continued' is a main clause — it CAN stand alone. When a subordinate clause opens a sentence like this, it's followed by a comma, which is a key punctuation rule to remember.

🔍Spot it

Identify whether the underlined section is a main or subordinate clause.

Question 1

"The team celebrated" in: 'The team celebrated because they had won.'

💡 'The team celebrated' makes complete sense on its own, so it's a main clause.

Question 2

"because they had won" in: 'The team celebrated because they had won.'

💡 'Because they had won' doesn't make complete sense by itself — it depends on the main clause before it.

Question 3

"Although she was tired" in: 'Although she was tired, she kept working.'

💡 'Although she was tired' cannot stand alone as a complete sentence — it needs the main clause 'she kept working' to make full sense.

🧠Think about it

Why does 'Because it was raining.' feel incomplete or strange on its own, even though it has a subject ('it') and a verb ('was raining')?

✍️Try it

Identify the main and subordinate clauses.

When the bell rang, the students rushed outside.

Question 1

Which part of this sentence is the main clause?

💡 Test each part: can it be a complete sentence by itself?

📝Practise

Identify whether each underlined section is a main or subordinate clause.

Question 1

"she finished her homework" in: 'She finished her homework before dinner.' Type?

Question 2

"if you arrive early" in: 'If you arrive early, we can start sooner.' Type?

Question 3

"the dog barked loudly" in: 'The dog barked loudly, and the cat hid.' Type?

Question 4

In one word, what do we call a clause that cannot stand alone as a complete sentence?

💡 It's the opposite of a main clause.

Question 5

Where should a comma usually be placed when a subordinate clause opens a sentence?

Question 6

"Although he was nervous, he gave an excellent speech." Which part is the main clause?

🎯Apply

Read the passage, then answer the questions below.

Because the exam had been postponed, the students had extra time to prepare, and many of them used it wisely, revising topics they had previously found difficult.

Question 1

"Because the exam had been postponed" is what type of clause?

💡 It cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

Question 2

"the students had extra time to prepare" is what type of clause?

💡 It CAN stand alone as a complete sentence.

Question 3

What punctuation mark follows the opening subordinate clause in this sentence?

💡 It appears directly after 'postponed'.

🏆Challenge

Explain in two or three sentences why correctly identifying main and subordinate clauses matters for accurate punctuation, using the example sentence in the Apply section to support your explanation.

🔄Review

A quick mastery check — 3 questions.

Question 1

A main clause is one that...

Question 2

A subordinate clause is one that...

Question 3

"When the sun set, the sky turned orange." Which part is the subordinate clause?

Want to practise clause order and connectives across sentences? Try the sentence builder →