Breaking down clauses; identifying subject-verb pairs

Hello, vaibhav15. You are on to something in the second question. The who clause is known as a relative clause, and in the sentence, it serves as an adjective that modifies the subject someone. We understand this to mean that not just anybody, but specifically someone who was likely to get ill would be likely to do something. The verb was serves its purpose within the relative clause, not in the main clause. The main clause, at a barebones level, is someone would pay [money], so, again, the subject is someone. The main clause simply takes a detour to provide further information about the subject within a relative clause. To illustrate:

someone who was likely to get ill would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in premium

The blue portion is the main clause, while the pink portion serves as a relative clause, a modifier of the subject; the verb would pay marks the beginning of the predicate of the main clause, basically what, together with a subject, forms a complete clause.

Perhaps that adds some clarity to the matter. Do not get bogged down in the jargon. Just know the difference between a main clause and a subordinate clause. Modifiers, whether word, phrase, or clause, pop up a lot in SC questions, and it is important to be able to identify what, exactly, they are modifying.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew