clausestructuring

Clause structuring is the organization and arrangement of clauses within sentences and statements. It is studied in linguistics as the architecture of clauses and in computer science as the sequencing of clauses in queries and logic rules. The term captures how clauses are combined to express complex ideas, including how meaning, tense, and modality are encoded.

In linguistics, a clause is a syntactic unit containing a predicate and its arguments; clause structuring looks at how main and subordinate clauses are built, ordered, and connected. English typically uses subject-verb-object order in independent clauses, but many languages permit variations. Clause types include main (independent) clauses, dependent clauses such as relative, complement, and adverbial clauses. Subordination and coordination are two major strategies for combining clauses. Features like tense, aspect, mood, and agreement interact with clause structure.

In other domains, clause structuring governs how information is requested or stored. In database query languages, canonical clause order is SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING, and ORDER BY, though dialects differ. In logic programming and knowledge representation, clauses form rules and facts, with Horn clauses being a common formalism. Clause structuring affects readability, maintainability, and computability, and researchers study cross-linguistic variation, processing, acquisition, and pedagogy.