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26 Phrases and Clauses

Phrases and clauses are groups of words that are part of sentences. [1] Phrases contain 2-4 words and do not express a complete thought, the most common being prepositional phrases which begin with a preposition and contain a noun. [2] Clauses contain a subject and verb and can express a complete thought, making them independent, or be incomplete and dependent on more context. [3] Dependent clauses require addition words to fully express an idea, while independent clauses are complete sentences.

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Nurul Fatin
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514 views2 pages

26 Phrases and Clauses

Phrases and clauses are groups of words that are part of sentences. [1] Phrases contain 2-4 words and do not express a complete thought, the most common being prepositional phrases which begin with a preposition and contain a noun. [2] Clauses contain a subject and verb and can express a complete thought, making them independent, or be incomplete and dependent on more context. [3] Dependent clauses require addition words to fully express an idea, while independent clauses are complete sentences.

Uploaded by

Nurul Fatin
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Phrases and Clauses

Often when we start putting two or three words together, we create either phrases or clauses. Here is some more information about both of these. Phrases A phrase is a short group of words (usually only about three or four) which has no subject and does not make a complete thought by itself. The two most common types of phrases are prepositional and verbal. A prepositional phrase is one that begins with a preposition and contains a noun. Examples are phrases like these: in the house by the pool at the school from the governor around the corner under the table

An important thing to remember about prepositional phrases is that the noun that is part of a propositional phrase can NEVER be the subject of the sentence. Wrong: Correct: In your house is very beautiful. Your house is very beautiful. or In your house, there are many beautiful things.

A verb phrase is a group of words containing a verb or a form of a verb. For example, all of the following italicized words are verb phrases: I am going to the fair. Jerry was studying late last night. Clauses When you put enough words together so that there is a subject and a verb to go along with that subject, then you have a clause. If there is enough information there to make a whole thought, then the clause is called an independent clause (because it can actually stand by itself as a complete, whole sentence). Example: The rain watered many lawns in my neighborhood. I should have done better on the test. Susan will be taking her math course again.

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A dependent clause may have a subject and a verb, but it does not quite make a whole thought by itself. It is called dependent because, before it can make any sense at all, it must depend on more words and thoughts being added to it. Example: When the rain fell. (dependent clause -- makes no sense by itself) When the rain fell, it watered many lawns in my neighborhood. (a perfectly complete sentence because more words were added to make it a complete thought)

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