the.com/clause
a sentence's smallest complete thought, also the fine print that ruins your weekend
means A grammatical unit containing a subject and predicate, or a distinct stipulation in a legal or formal document.
from From Latin 'clausula,' a 'conclusion' or 'closing of a sentence,' itself from 'claudere,' to close or shut — the same root that gives us 'close,' 'conclude,' and 'enclosure.' A clause was literally something that shut a thought up tight, sealing it off as complete. It reached English through Old French 'clause' in the medieval period, and the legal sense — the discrete sealed-off provision — grew naturally from the grammatical one: each one a small locked box of meaning.
- two flavors
- independent stands alone; dependent clings like a needy ex
- legal trap
- contracts hide fortunes and footguns in single clauses
- santa pun
- the only clause that delivers gifts, not obligations
- root
- from Latin claudere, to close or shut
- music too
- composers use clausula, a cadence ending a phrase
most favored nation clause — wto trade rule: gives equal tariff treatment to all member nations, established 1995
grandfather clause — us voting law 1890s-1960s: exempted white voters from literacy tests if their grandfathers could vote
henry viii clause — uk law 2019: lets government bypass parliament to modify laws after brexit