| clause |
| Definition -
(1) A part of a sentence that itself includes a subject and a predicate. (2) A short sentence. |
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Example - I ate it because I wanted to eat it. ( I wanted to eat it is a clause because it contains (1) the subject I and (2) the predicate wanted to eat it.) |
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Etymology - The word derives via Old French and Medieval Latin from the Latin clausula, the close of a sentence. |
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Oxford English Dictionary - The word's first citation in its grammatical sense is from 1865: "A phrase is a combination of words without a predicate; a clause is a term of a sentence containing a predicate within itself; as, a man who is wise." (Dalgleish Gram. Analysis 15) |
