What are coordinate and subordinate clauses?
A coordinate clause has meaning independent of the sentence.
For example: I finished my work and I ate my dinner.
'I ate my dinner' is the coordinate clause.
Coordinate clauses are joined by the help of coordinate conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (learned with the acronym FANBOYS).
A subordinate clause does not have complete meaning independent of the sentence.
For example: After finishing my work, I ate dinner.
Subordinate clauses are joined with the help of subordinate conjunctions: which, what, when, why, who, that, after, before, if, even if, if only, as soon as, in order that, so that, etc.
For example: I finished my work and I ate my dinner.
'I ate my dinner' is the coordinate clause.
Coordinate clauses are joined by the help of coordinate conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (learned with the acronym FANBOYS).
A subordinate clause does not have complete meaning independent of the sentence.
For example: After finishing my work, I ate dinner.
Subordinate clauses are joined with the help of subordinate conjunctions: which, what, when, why, who, that, after, before, if, even if, if only, as soon as, in order that, so that, etc.