Level 5 — Advanced · Structural & Academic Writing
Task 42: Writing One Sentence With Three Clauses
Build one sentence with a main clause, a correctly attached subordinate clause, and a relative clause embedded inside it — the writer's side of the clause-hierarchy skill Lesson 42 taught for reading.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this task, you should be able to:
- Write a sentence with one clear main clause and one correctly attached subordinate clause
- Embed a relative clause inside the subordinate clause without losing the sentence's grammaticality
- Identify, in your own sentence, which clause is main and which are dependent
Introduction
Lesson 42 taught you to find a dense sentence's main clause first, then see how subordinate and embedded clauses hang off it. Building one yourself is a different discipline: you have to keep track, while writing, of which clause is actually carrying the sentence's main point and which are only supporting it.
Main, Subordinate, Embedded
Core Concept
A main clause can stand alone. A subordinate clause (often starting because, although, when, since) cannot stand alone and depends on the main clause. An embedded clause — often a relative clause — sits inside another clause, modifying one of its nouns.
Example
Main + subordinate: The system failed because the server overheated. Adding an embedded relative clause inside the subordinate clause: The system failed because the server, which had not been serviced in months, overheated.
Your Turn
Your Turn
Write one sentence with a main clause, a subordinate clause attached to it (using because, although, when, or since), and a relative clause embedded inside the subordinate clause (modifying one of its nouns). Then write the main clause alone underneath, to prove it can stand by itself.
Vocabulary in Context
subordinate clausenoun phrasetechnical
a dependent clause that cannot stand alone as a sentence (অধীনস্থ বাক্যাংশ)
Often with add a subordinate clause, subordinate clause with although, embed a subordinate clause
“'Although the vessel was late, the crew unloaded it quickly' contains a subordinate clause.”
embedded clausenoun phrasetechnical
a clause placed inside another clause, usually modifying one of its nouns (অন্তর্ভুক্ত বাক্যাংশ)
Often with embedded clause, place an embedded clause, embedded relative clause
“In 'The report that the auditor wrote was long', 'that the auditor wrote' is an embedded clause.”
Model Answer
Show a model answer
The terminal delayed the shipment because the crane, which had been flagged for maintenance the previous week, broke down during loading. Main clause alone: The terminal delayed the shipment. Subordinate clause: because the crane broke down during loading. Embedded relative clause: which had been flagged for maintenance the previous week (modifying "the crane").
Self-Check
Self-Check
- Does your main clause make a complete, grammatical sentence on its own?
- Is your subordinate clause correctly attached with because/although/when/since?
- Does your embedded relative clause clearly modify one specific noun, without ambiguity?
- Is the finished sentence grammatical all the way through, not just in pieces?
Next: Writing 43 — Writing a Paragraph That Flows: handing information from one sentence to the next so a reader never has to backtrack.