Definition and Examples of Subordination in English

Subordination in English grammar is the process of linking two clauses in a sentence so that one clause is dependent on (or subordinate to) another. Clauses joined by coordination are called main clauses  or independent clauses. This is in contrast to subordination, in which a subordinate clause (for example, an adverb clause or an adjective clause) is attached to the main clause. Clausal subordination is often (but not always) indicated by a subordinating conjunction  in the case of adverb clauses or a relative pronoun  in the case of adjective clauses. Examples and Observations In the sentence, I swear that I didnt dream it, where one clause is part of the other, we have subordination. The higher clause, i.e., the whole sentence, is the main clause and the lower clause is a sub-clause. In this case, there is an element which actually marks explicitly the beginning of the subordinate clause, namely that. (Kersti Bà ¶rjars and Kate Burridge, Introducing English Grammar, 2nd ed. Hodder, 2010) Adverbial Subordinate Clauses While Fern was in school, Wilbur was shut up inside his yard. (E.B. White, Charlottes Web. Harper, 1952)  All the animals capered with joy when they saw the whips going up in flames. (George Orwell, Animal Farm. Secker and Warburg, 1945)One summer morning, after I had swept the dirt yard of leaves, spearmint-gum wrappers, and Vienna-sausage labels, I raked the yellow-red dirt, and made half-moons carefully, so that the design stood out clearly and masklike. (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1969)[U]nless one is inordinately fond of subordination, one is always at war. (Philip Roth, The Dying Animal. Houghton Mifflin, 2001) Adjectival Subordinate Clauses Fern . . . found an old milking stool that had been discarded, and she placed the stool in the sheepfold next to Wilburs pen. (E.B. White, Charlottes Web. Harper, 1952)Moses, who was Mr. Joness especial pet, was a spy and a tale-bearer, but he was also a clever talker. (George Orwell, Animal Farm. Secker and Warburg, 1945)We lived with our grandmother and uncle in the rear of the Store (it was always spoken of with a capital s), which she had owned some twenty-five years. (Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1969)In the cutting room, there were twenty-five men at work, about six to a table, and the Swede led her over to the oldest of them, whom he introduced as the Master. (Philip Roth, American Pastoral. Houghton Mifflin, 1997) Analyzing Subordinate Structures Subordination-heavy sentences are probably our most common type of sentence, either spoken or written, though they are more complicated than they may seem at first glance. In fact, this sentence by Thomas Cahill seems quite ordinary until we examine it more closely: In the time-honored fashion of the ancient world, he opens the book at random, intending to receive as a divine message the first sentence his eyes should fall upon. —How the Irish Saved Civilization (57) Cahills basic sentence about St. Augustine is he opened the book. But the sentence begins with two orienting prepositional phrases (In the time-honored fashion and of the ancient world) and adds detail at the end with a prepositional phrase (at random) and a participial phrase (intending . . .). There is also an infinitive phrase (to receive . . .) and a subordinate clause (his eyes should fall upon). For the reader, comprehending this sentence is much simpler than describing it. (Donna Gorrell, Style and Difference. Houghton Mifflin, 2005) Cognitive Relations [T]he notion of subordination will be defined here exclusively in functional terms. Subordination will be regarded as a particular way to construe the cognitive relation between two events, such that one of them (which will be called the dependent event) lacks an autonomous profile, and is construed in the perspective of the other event (which will be called the main event). This definition is largely based on the one provided in Langacker (1991: 435-7). For instance, in Langackers terms, the English sentence in (1.3), (1.3) After she drank the wine, she went to sleep. profiles the event of going to sleep, not the event of drinking the wine. . . . What matters here is that the definition pertains to cognitive relations between events, not any particular clause type. This means that the notion of subordination is independent of the way in which clause linkage is realized across languages. (Sonia Cristofaro,  Subordination. Oxford University Press, 2003) Subordination and the Evolution of Languages Many languages make very sparse use of clause subordination while making much freer use of clause conjoining. We can extrapolate that the earliest languages had only juxtaposition of clauses, then developed markers of coordination of clauses (like and), and only later, perhaps much later, developed ways of signaling that one clause was intended to be understood as playing a role inside the interpretation of another, i.e. marking subordination of clauses. (James R. Hurford, The Origins of Language. Oxford University Press, 2014)