Everyday conversation exhibits abundant hesitations, shifts in sentence construction, apparently incomplete structures, and interconnections that are odd by the norms of the written language. Instead, reference can be made to the relative independence of the unit and its internal structure. A sentence may be viewed as a clause complex, in which the parts are clauses linked to each other by coordination and subordination. The governor of the prison negotiated with the prisoners throughout the day . The subordinate clause, here introduced by the subordinator after , can be moved to the front of the sentence, a typical property of subordinate clauses.
Further complexities are quite usual.
In this example, the two subordinate that -clauses are coordinated by and . All the examples of subordinate clauses given above have been finite clauses , but subordination may be effected through non-finite clauses and verbless clauses . Constituents of clauses. This structured account of sentences assumes the recognition of clauses. A clause consists of central and peripheral constituents, the first usually obligatory, the second optional.