Important Information in the Main Clause

Section 13.4.2

Important Information in the Main Clause

When writing a sentence, you need to decide whether the information you are including should be expressed in a main clause or in a dependent clause. Here are some guidelines to help you.

Put the most important information of the sentence, the information that the sentence is about, into the main clause.

Put information that is less important, information that is included to provide background or tie together the ideas in a paragraph, into a dependent clause:

Weak

Jupiter has an enormous size and gravity [background], and so the Galileo probe steadily gained velocity as it approached the planet [main point].

Improved

Because Jupiter has an enormous size and gravity [background], the Galileo probe steadily gained velocity as it approached the planet [main point].

--"Halo Nuclei," Scientific American (modified)

Once you have decided which clauses to put the information in, remember that a sentence may begin with either a main clause or a dependent clause. For how to order the main and dependent clauses, see Old before New.

## Ordering of Important Information ##