ABSTRACT
The definition of the term "clause" necessitates some remarks on the usual terminology, according to which the clauses here mentioned would be termed ' dependent J or ' subordinate J clauses as opposed to 'the principal clause' (or' principal proposition ') ; corresponding terms are used in other languages, e.g. G. ' nebensatz, hauptsatz. J But it is not at all necessary to have a special term for what is usually called a. principal clause. It should first be remarked that the principal idea is not always expressed in the 'principal clause,' for instance not in "This was because he was iII." The idea which is expressed in the 'principal clause J in " It is true that he is very learned," may be rendered by a. simple adverb in "Oertainly he is very learned "-does that change his being learned from a subordinate to a principal idea' Compare also the two expressions" I tell you that he is mad" and" He is mad, as I tell you." Further, if the' principal clause' is defined as what remains after the subordinate clauses have been peeled off, we often obtain curious results. It must be admitted that in some cases the subordinate clauses may be left out without any material detriment to the meaning, which is to some extent complete in itself, as in " I shall go to London (if I can) " or " (When he got back) he dined with his brother." But even here it does not seem necessary to have a special term for what remains after the whole combination has been stripped of those elements, any more than if the same result had followed from the omission of
flome synonymous expressions of another form, e.g. "I shall go to London (in that case) " or "(After his return) he dined with his brother." If we take away the clause where I WM born from the three sentences quoted above, what remains is (1) I do not know, (2) This is the land, (3) It is a custom; but there is just as little reason for treating these as a separate grammatical category as if they had originated by the omission of the underlined parts of the sentences (1) I do not know my birth-place, (2) This is my native land, (3) It is a custom at home. Worse still, what is left after deduction of the dependent clauses very often gives no meaning at all, as in .. (Who steals my purse) steals trash" and even more absurdly in " (What surprises me) is (that he should get angry)." Can it really be said here that the little word is contains the principal idea 1 The grammatical unit is the whole sentence including all that the speaker or writer has brought together to express his thought; this should be taken as a whole, and then it will be seen to be of little importance whether the subject or some other part of it is in the form of a sentence and can thus be termed a clause or whether it is a single word or a word group of some other form.
