“A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a predicate”
For example, he laughed.
A clause refers to a group of related words (within a sentence or itself as an independent sentence) which has both subject and predicate.
Example
I will meet him in office.
The part of above sentence “I will meet him” is a clause because it has a subject(I) and a predicate(will meet him). On the other hand, the rest part of above sentence “in office” lacks both subject and predicate(verb) such group of word is called phrase.
A clause may stand as a simple sentence or may join another clause to make a sentence. Therefore, a sentence consists of one, two or more clauses.
Examples.
• He is sleeping. (one clause)
• The kids were laughing at the joker. (one clause)
• The teacher asked a question, but no one answered. (two clauses)
• I am happy, because I won a prize. (two clauses)
• I like Mathematics, but my brother likes Biology,
because he wants to become a doctor. (three clauses)
Clauses are divided into main clause (also called independent clause) andsubordinate clause (also called dependent clauses).