Section 13.4.2

Important Information in the Main Clause

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

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Weak

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

Improved

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

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

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• 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 ##


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