coordinate clause

5.6

A part of a sentence that has same importance as another and is joined by words like and or but

noun
/ˈkɔːrdɪneɪt klɔːz/

Specialized

: cláusula coordinada

The sentence 'She played the piano and he sang' contains two coordinate clauses.

Examples

In the phrase 'It rained, but we went outside,' each part is a coordinate clause.
You can link coordinate clauses with conjunctions like 'or', 'and', or 'but'.
A coordinate clause can stand alone.
Can you identify the coordinate clause?
The sentence 'I wanted to go to the park, but it was raining' has two coordinate clauses that express equal ideas.
In the statement 'He enjoys reading, and she prefers watching movies', both parts are coordinate clauses that are equal in importance.
When you use a structure like 'You can have coffee or tea', you are creating coordinate clauses that are related by the conjunction 'or'.

Surface Forms

coordinate clause singular

coordinate clauses plural

Morphology

coordinate + clause

The meaning is directly compositional: 'coordinate' (of equal rank) combined with 'clause' (a unit with subject and predicate) yields 'a clause of equal importance to another clause,' so a learner who knows both words can infer the sense. Although it is a technical grammatical term, the logic is transparent and mirrors equivalent constructions in many languages.

Etymology

Coordinate clause creates a picture of two small sentence parts standing side by side. coordinate means 'equal' and clause means a small sentence, so a coordinate clause is one of two or more clauses of equal importance joined by words like 'and' or 'but'.