Clause
Pronunciation É‘
Origin
From , claus, borrowed from , from (Latin diminutive clausula ("close, end; a clause, close of a period")), from , past participle of claudere ("to shut, close"). See close, its doublet.
Full definition of clause
Noun
clause
(plural clauses)- (grammar) A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and any adjuncts affecting them.
- (grammar) A verb along with its subject and their modifiers. If a clause provides a complete thought on its own, then it is an independent (superordinate) clause; otherwise, it is (subordinate) dependent.
- 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course Chapter 6, However, Coordination facts seem to undermine this hasty conclusion: thus, consider the following:
(43) sister could go to College, but she get a degree?
The second (italicised) conjunct is a Clause containing an inverted Auxiliary, would. Given our earlier assumptions that inverted Auxiliaries are in C, and that C is a constituent of S-bar, it follows that the italicised Clause in (43) must be an S-bar. But our familiar constraint on Coordination tells us that only constituents belonging to the same Category can be conjoined. Since the second Clause in (43) is clearly an S-bar, then it follows that the first Clause must also be an S-bar — one in which the C(omplementiser) position has been left empty. - (legal) A separate part of a contract, a will or another legal document.
Usage notes
In “When it got dark, they went back into the houseâ€, “When it got dark†is a dependent clause within the complete sentence. The independent clause “they went back into the house†could stand alone as a sentence, whereas the dependent clause could not.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Verb
- (transitive, shipping) To amend (a bill of lading or similar document).
- 1970, Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, The question of clausing the bills of lading, so as to avoid "dirtying", which impairs its negotiability, may also be looked into
- 1978, Samir Mankabady, The Hamburg rules on the carriage of goods by sea, Any attempt to clause a Bill of Lading will be strenuously resisted by shippers, and they will obtain clean bills in the usual ways
- 1990, Alan Mitchelhill, Bills of lading: law and practice, It was held that the bills of lading presented were in this case 'clean' as they contained no reservations by way of endorsement, clausing or otherwise to suggest that the goods were defective
- Martin Dockra, Cases & materials on the carriage of goods by sea, There is little authority in English law dealing with the liability of a carrier who unnecessarily clauses a bill of lading.
Further reading
- Webster 1913
- Century 1911