So, what exactly is a subordinate clause? 

To put it simply, a subordinate clause is a part of a sentence. A subordinate clause doesn’t make sense on its own in a sentence, but adds more detail to the sentence itself.

Let’s break it down.

Full sentence:

‘If I can find the cat food, I can feed the cat’

Subordinate clause:

‘If I can find the cat food’

…this sentence doesn’t make sense on its own. ‘If I can…’ then what?

However, if we add to it…

‘If I can find the cat food, I can feed the cat’

Ah! That makes perfect sense!

A subordinate clause can come before the comma in a sentence or afterwards; sometimes, the sentence might not have a comma.

So how do we spot a subordinate clause?

Try these three things when you think you see a subordinate clause:

1. Does it add more meaning to the ‘main event’ of the sentence?
2. Does it not make sense on its own?
3. Does it start with a subordinating conjunction?
   
   

Subordinating conjunction:

A subordinate clause will always show the reader that there’s more information to learn in the sentence than just in that short part by using one word.

These words are called subordinating conjunctions and are easy to see once you start writing the sentences yourself.

Remember, subordinate clauses always start with a subordinating conjunction.

‘If I can find the cat food, I can feed the cat’

‘If’ is an example of a subordinate conjunction.

Some other examples of subordinating conjunctions are: if, since, as, when, although, while, after, before, until, because, unless, whereas.

The subordinating conjunction can also be a small phrase: as soon as, provided that, even though.

These are used to connect the subordinate clause to the main clause, or main part of the sentence.

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