Clauses and Phrases

To understand punctuation, it is helpful to understand the difference between a phrase and

a clause.

I. A phrase is a collection of words that may have nouns or verbals, but it does not have a subject doing a
verb. The following are examples of phrases:

leaving behind the dog

smashing into a fence

before the first test

after the devastation

between ignorance and intelligence

broken into thousands of pieces

because of her glittering smile

In these examples above, you will find nouns (dog, fence, test, devastation, ignorance, intelligence,
thousands, pieces). You also have some verbals (leaving, smashing), but in no case is the noun functioning as
a subject doing a predicate verb. They are all phrases.

II. A clause is a collection of words that has a subject that is actively doing a verb. The following are
examples of clauses:

since she laughs at diffident men

I despise individuals of low character

when the saints go marching in

Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid raccoon

because she smiled at him.

In the examples above, we find either a noun or a pronoun that is a subject (bold-print and red) attached to
a predicate verb (underlined and purple) in each case:

since she laughs at diffident men

I despise individuals of low character

when the saints go marching in

Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid raccoon

because she smiled at him

III. If the clause could stand by itself, and form a complete sentence with punctuation, we call the clause
an independent clause. The following are independent clauses:

I despise individuals of low character

Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid racoon

We could easily turn independent clauses into complete sentences by adding appropriate punctuation marks.
We might say, "I despise individuals of low character." Or we might write, "Obediah Simpson is uglier than a
rabid racoon!" We call them independent because these types of clauses can stand independently by
themselves, without any extra words attached, and be complete sentences.

IV. Dependent clauses have a subject doing a verb, but they have a subordinate conjunction placed in front
of the clause. That subordinate conjunction means that the clause can't stand independently by itself and
become a complete sentence. Instead, the dependent clause is dependent upon another clause--it can't make a
complete sentence by itself, even though it has a subject doing a verb. Here are some examples of dependent
clauses:

since she laughs at diffident men

when the saints go marching in

because she smiled at him

These clauses simply do not form complete thoughts or sentences by themselves. Those subordinate
conjunctions--since, when, and because--cause the listener to expect some extra material. The thought is
incomplete. If you walked up to a friend in the dorms and said, "since she laughs at diffident men," and then
walked away without adding an independent clause, the friend would be completely baffled.
It's important to understand the difference between phrases, dependent clauses, and independent clauses
because many punctuation marks--such as commas, semicolons, and colons, require one or the other. Click
here to move to subordinate conjunctions to learn more.

Phrases and clausesalong with parts of speech and parts of sentencesare the
basic components of sentences. We fit these things together in infinite ways to
create an infinite variety of sentencesrather like parts of a highly complicated
home entertainment system.

All about Phrases

A phrase is two or more words that lack some semblance of both a subject and
verb. This rather vague definition will be clearer when you see the definition of
clauses and examples of them.
Noun phrase. A noun and all its modifiers (articles, adjectives, adverbs
modifying those adjectives). Some grammarians include prepositions that modify
the noun.
Noun phrase: An entirely new culture emerges when people can work
together to build a wiki.
Phrase:

A phrase is a group of related words that does not include a subject and verb.

Verb phrase. The parts of the verb that function as the grammatical verb of an
independent or dependent clause.
Verb phrases: People have said that creating a standard for
wikis would be a good idea, and many proposals have been made for
standardizing various aspects of wikis, but none have taken hold.
Anybody can recognize a one-word verb. The verb phrases in this compound
sentence (yes, three independent clauses) show you a nice range of examples.
Prepositional phrase. A phrase made up of a preposition, and the phrase or
clause that acts as its object.
Prepositional phrase: One of the best ways to understand wikis is to see
how wikis are different from many other toolsfor Internet-based
communication such as e-mail, blogs, bulletin boards, forums, content
management systems, and Web publishing systems.
Three prepositional phrases here. (The dictionary doesn't want to commit
whether such as is a preposition; it certainly functions like one). Notice that the
phrase to see how wikis are different... is not a preposition; it is an
infinitive because it contains the verbsee.
Infinitive and infinitive phrase. An infinitive is a phrase in its own
right: to plus a verb, for example, to read. However, an infinitive phrase can also
be the infinitive plus any phrase or clause associated with it.
Infinitive phrase: One of the fastest ways to get an understanding of
wikis is to see how wikis are different from many other tools for
Internet-based communication such as e-mail, blogs, bulletin boards,
forums, content management systems, and Web publishing systems.The
second infinitive phrase contains an adverb clause: how...systems.
A gerbil pretending to be a noun

Gerund and gerund phrase. A gerund is an -ing form of a verb functioning as

a noun in a sentence. A gerund phrase is the gerund plus any phrase or clause
associated with it.

Gerund: Between 2004 to 2006, entrepreneurs noticed the market

opportunity for providing hosted wikis (also known as wiki
farms) that that would allow people to create wikis without needing
their own server or special skills.
Both these gerund function as objects of the prepositions for and without.
Appositive. An appositive is a noun phrase along with any phraes or clauses
associated with it, the composite of which "renames" a noun or pronoun. In the
sentence Joan Doe, our mayor, dedicated the new school, the appositive
is our mayor.
Appositive: United States federal intelligence agenciesthe CIA, the
NSA, the Defense Department, and othersuse a wiki to help gather,
share, and analyze information.
Particularly complex appositivesfor example, ones with their own internal
punctuation, often use dashes as in this examples. Parentheses can also be used
to set off appositives.
Participial phrase. A participial is an -ing or -ed form of a verbnot functioning
as a noun. Instead, it and the phrases or clauses associated with it function as a
modifier in a sentence.
Participial phrase: Instead of physical objects, pages in a wiki are
electronic virtual objects created by the wiki engine.
Sentence predicate. It's hard to know where to put the predicate. It is simply
everything after the subject and its modifiers.
Sentence "subjecticate." This is made up! If the predicate is
everything after the subject, why isn't there a term for everything beforethe
predicate? In other words, the subject and all its modifiers. This includes
introductory elements.
If you are confident that you can identify the different types of phrases, use these
two sets of exercises to test yourself:
A highly independent clause

All about Clauses

A clause is a group of words
that contains the elements of a
complete sentencespecifically,
something acting as a subject
and something acting as a
verb. The two basic categories
of clauses are independent
clauses and dependent clauses.
Independent clause. A
complete sentenceno matter
how brief. It works is a
complete sentence!
Dependent clause. Almost a
complete sentencesomething
about the subject or the verb is
not complete. Dependent
clauses cannot stand on their
own as complete sentences.
Dependent clauses: A sandbox
is a practice page on a
wiki where you can become
familiar with how wikis
work.
The highlighted dependent
clause contains still another

dependent clause within it: how

wikis work.
Adjective clause. A
dependent clause that functions
as an adjective and modifies a
noun or pronoun. In other
words, it adds extra information
about that noun or pronoun.
Two independent clauses: Ward
Cunningham was interested
in solving problems and
sharing his ideas using his
wiki creation, but he
generously did not patent
his creation.
Adjective clause: A wiki is a
collection of Web
pages that anyone can edit.
Clause:

A clause is a group of related words containing a subject and a verb. In some dependent clauses,

a relative pronoun (such as

that

or

which

acts as placeholder for the subject.

Adverb clause. A dependent

clause that functions as an
adverb and modifies a verb (or
possibly an adjective or
adverb). Adverbsincluding
adverb clausesprovide how,
when, where, why information
to a sentence.
Adverb clause: When Ward
Cunningham created the
first wiki engine in 1994
and then released it on the
Internet in 1995, he set
forth a major revolution.
Noun clause. A dependent
clause that functions as a noun
in a sentence. Noun clauses can
act as subjects, direct objects,
and objects of prepositions.
Noun clause: People get
involved with this
technology when they
learn how to solve their
problems with wikis.

This noun clause functions as

the direct object of the
verb learn. It doesn't matter
that this noun clause is located
within an adverb clause.
If you are confident that you
can identify the different types
of clauses, use these two sets
of exercises to test yourself:

Identify different types of clauses

Exercises
Links to these exercises are
provided at the end of the
sections where they are
relevant. But here they all are
in case you read the text
straight through:

Identify different types of phrases

Identify different types of clauses

A sadly dependent clause

Additional Resources

Definitions of Basic Sentence Parts: Word Functions &

Usage Notes. From the Guide to Grammar and
Writing made available by Capital Community College (Norfolk,
Connecticut). Followed by quizzes!

Garden of Phrases. Absolute phrases, appositive phrases, gerund phrases,

infinitive phrases, noun phrases, participial phrases, prepositional phrases.
From the Guide to Grammar and Writing made available by Capital
Community College (Norfolk, Connecticut).

Coordination and subordination. Use this resource to practice determining

whether phrases and clauses are coordinate or subordinate.

Word, phrase, clause transformations. This related chapter focuses on

getting more verbal room to express ideas or using fewer words to
achieve more succinct writing. Both are achieved by transformations
between words, phrases, and clauses.