Question

Identify the clause and name it:
The nerves that controlled his muscles were shutting down.

Answer 1

Hint: A clause refers to a group of words that contains a verb (and usually other components too). A clause may form part of a sentence or it may be a complete sentence in itself.

Complete step-by-step answer:

As given in the hint, a clause includes a subject and a verb. Also, most every sentence contains at least one main clause.
We use the main clause or an independent clause to form a part of a compound sentence or a complex sentence containing a subject and a verb that forms a complete meaning and have the ability to stand alone as a sentence.
Example- He kicked the dustbin. Here, ‘he’ is the subject and ‘kicked’ is the verb that expresses a complete meaning.
We also use a subordinate or a dependent clause to form sentences that express an incomplete meaning.
We form Compound sentences by joining two or more main clauses with the help of coordinating conjunctions, such as; and, but or so.
Example- I love sports but I cannot play this year. Here, ‘I love sports’ is the main clause as it has a subject and a verb, while ‘I cannot play this year’ is also an independent clause. Both of these independent clauses are joined with the coordinating conjunction ‘but’.
Now, in the given question: ‘The nerves were shutting down’ is an independent clause as it expresses a complete meaning, while ‘that controlled his muscles’ is a dependent clause.
Since we can see the use of ‘that’, we can conclude ‘that controlled his muscles’ is a subordinate adjective clause that modifies the noun.

Note: Subordinate adjective clauses are used to begin with relative pronouns, such as; who, that or which.