Sentence Composition: Main and Subordinate Clauses

Clauses are different parts of a complex sentence. The following sentence contains two clauses linked by the conjunction so.

We put stickers on our suitcase so we could find it easily at the airport.

The main clause in a complex sentence makes sense on its own.

We put stickers on our suitcase so we could find it easily at the airport.

The subordinate clause begins with the conjunction and does not make sense on its own.

We put stickers on our suitcase so we could find it easily at the airport.

A subordinate clause can be at the beginning of a sentence as well as at the end.

So we could find it easily at the airport, we put stickers on our suitcase.

If the subordinate clause is at the beginning of the sentence we use a comma to separate the clauses.