Clauses

We know that Haji Mohammad Mohsin was a very kind man. As he was kind, he used to help the poor people. One night a thief entered the room when Mohsin was sleeping. He woke up because there was a sudden sound in the room. The thief did not try to flee away when he caught hold of him. He began to weep in fear that he might be punished. Mohsin asked him why he had come to steal The thief replied that his family had been starving for a few days. Mohsin advised him that stealing is a great sin. He let the thief go with some money and advised him to turn good. The thief took the money and went home gladly.

Ask & answer:

• a) Does each sentence in the passage have a connective word or conjunction? If so, find the conjunctions that join two parts of the sentences.
• b) Do you know that clause means the part of a sentence?

What is a clause?
A clause means a part of a sentence having a subject and a predicate of its own.
All the sentences in the above passage have two clauses. They are:

• Principal clause
• Subordinate clause.

Thus, the sentence "We know that Hazi Mohammad Mohsin was a very kind man," contains two clauses

(i) We know,

(ii) that Hazi Mohammad Mohsin was a very kind man. Of these two, the first one stands by itself, but the latter depends on the other clause.
The clause that is dependent on another clause to make a complete sense called a Subordinate or Dependent clause.
The Principal clause can make a complete sense by itself. It does not have to depend on any other clause.
A sentence having two principal clauses is called a Co-ordinate clause.
Here are some examples of isolated sentences showing the different clauses:

• I know where he is.
• The pen that father gave me is lost.
• He cannot do this unless you help him.
• What he says is unknown to me.
• The man worked very hard and grew tired
• This is what I say.
• Listen to what your teachers say.
• You cannot prosper unless you work hard.
• Whenyou have finished your lessons, you can play games.
• The man is poor but he is honest.

(Note: Two simple sentences may be combined into a complex or compound sentence having two clauses).
Now combine each of the following pairs of sentences :

• Nafis will come out successful. We hope so.
• This is the place. The man lives here.
• He kept silent. I know the reason.
• He says this. It is true.
• Mohsin was sleeping. A thief entered the room.
• Read regularly. Otherwise you will not pass well.
• I wanted a pen. This is not that pen.
• This is my village. I was born here.
• He took medicine. He wanted to get well.