| clause |
| Definition: A part of a sentence that itself includes a subject and a predicate. |
| 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.) |
| Etymology: The word derives via Old French and Medieval Latin from the Latin clausula, the close of a sentence. |
| 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) |