Phrases and Clauses

Course Instructor: Rana Muhammad Faraz

 What is a Phrase?

 A group of two or more words in a sentence related to each

other or acting as a single unit but does not have a subject or
a predicate.
 Phrases
 Phrase is component of a clause

 Each word of a phrase has a meaning but collectively it does

not form complete sense like a sentence. i.e. it does not give a
complete meaning hen standalone

 A phrase can not turn into a sentence, no matter what

you might add to it.
 Examples
 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
 Types of Phrases
 Noun Phrase
 Adjective Phrase
 Adverb Phrase
 Verb Phrase
 Infinitives Phrase
 Prepositional Phrase
 Gerund Phrase
 Participle Phrase
  A phrase that acts as a noun in sentence is called
noun phrase. It consists of noun and other related
words (usually determiners and modifiers) which
modify the noun .
 The noun phrase comprises a noun as a head-
word and other related words (determiners and
modifiers) may come before or after the noun.
Noun
Phrase Examples:
Do not eat fatty fast food. (as noun: object)
He bought a decent black shirt. (as noun: object)
One of our close relatives never drink coffee. (as noun:
subject)
A woman in the window shouted for help, (as noun:
subject)
 A sentence can also
consist of one or more
than one noun phrases.

 One of our close relatives

bought a beautiful red car.
(as nouns both as subject
and object)
 Adjective Phrase
 A phrase that acts like an adjective in a sentence is called
adjective phrase.

 Like an adjective, it modifies (gives more information)

about a noun or pronoun.

 It consists of adjectives, modifiers and other words that

modifying the noun or pronoun.
 Examples

 A kid on the roof is looking at the sky. (modifies noun: Kid)

 The boy standing in the shop is my friend. (modifies noun: boy)

 She bought a beautiful brown chair. (modifies noun: Chair)

 A lady with long hair is walking in the garden. (modifies noun: lady

 She gave me a cup full of tea. (modifies noun: cup)

 Examples
• She is wearing a soft silk scarf.

• A black big bug crept under the blanket.

• He is an intelligent boy.
 Adverb Phrase
 An adverb phrase is a group of words that functions as an
adverb.
 It modifies a verb, or an adjective, or another adverb.

 Like an adjective, it modifies (gives more information)

about a verb or other adverbs in the sentences.
 Examples
 He drive a car at a very high speed.
(modifies verb: drive)

 He was running very fast. (modifies verb: run)

 She always speaks in a respectful way.

(modifies verb: speak)
 He stayed at college for a few hours.
(modifies verb: stay)
 Examples

A big bad bear

She stepped
appeared in the
out with slow steps.
distance.

She brought
I will do it in a
flowers for her
minute.
mother.
 Verb Phrase

 A verb phrase consists of the main

verb plus any modal or/and auxiliary
(helping) verb.

 The main verb comes last in the verb

phrase.
 Examples

Flowers are fluttering in fresh air.

Pretty plants could grow only in green garden.

A wild wolf has leapt onto a fat fox.

He must have drunk a delicious drink.

 Infinitives Phrase
 An infinitives phrase begins with the infinitives form of the
verb (to + the simple form of a verb) plus the related
words (i.e. a complement or/and a modifier).

 It functions either as a noun or an adjective ar an

adverb.
  He liked to read books. (as noun)

 To earn money is a desire of everyone. (as noun)

 The government made a plan to help the poor.

Examples (as adjective modifying noun: plan)

 She sung a song to please the audience.

(as adverb modifying verb : sing).
 Prepositional Phrase

A prepositional phrase is a group of words

that begins with a preposition and includes
the object of the preposition. Noun or
pronoun are the object of the preposition.

it may include the object’s modifiers also.

The prepositional phrases either function as

an adverb or an adjective.
 Examples
 He is going to school.

 He lived in a big city.

 The boy is sleeping on the

carpaet.

 I live in a town near Lahore.

  A gerund phrase consists of
a gerund (verb + ing), its
objects, and modifiers.
Gerund
Phrase  It functions like a noun and
is used as a subject or an
object or a compliment.
 Examples

 He like writing a comic

book.

 Reading a comic book

brings us joy.

 His favorite hobby is

writing comic books.
  A phrase consists of a present-
participle (verb+ing) or a past –
participle (2nd form of verb) plus a
Participle modifier or other linked words.
Phrase
 It functions as an adjective and is
separated by commas.
 Examples
 The baby, weeping loudly, is
hungry.

 The man, driving the car, is my

friend.

 The table, made of steel, is very

expensive.

 We saw a car, damaged in an

accident.
 What is a Clause?

 A grammatical arrangement that

contains a set of words having a
subject and a verb.

 Clause is a component of a complete

sentence.

 Clause gives complete meaning and

can even be a complete sentence when
standalone.
 Types of Clause
 Dependent Clauses (Subordinate clause).

 Independent Clauses (Main clause).

 Dependent Clauses

 Dependent clauses contain both a subject and a verb but

cannot stand alone in the sentence.

 Dependent clauses are sometimes known as subordinate

clauses. Subordinate conjunction such as because, as,
since etc.
 As their name implies, these clauses depend on
independent clauses to clearly express ideas.
 Examples
 When I grow up

 Although he sings well

 The mouse that was hiding

 Examples
To turn these dependent clauses into full sentences,
you need to combine them with independent clauses:
When I grow up, I want to be a doctor.

Although he sings well, he hates karaoke.

I searched through the basement and found the

mouse that was hiding.
 Types of Dependent
clauses

 Dependent clauses can function either

as noun clauses, pronoun clauses,
adjective clauses and adverb clauses
in a sentence.
 Noun Clauses
 Noun clause functions as a noun in a sentence.

 For example,

 That man told us how he escaped (Direct object

of the verb told).
 What I want for dinner is a sandwich (Subject of
the verb is).
 Give it to whoever arrives first (object of the
preposition to).
 Pronoun Clauses

 A pronoun clause is always

governed by the role it plays in its
term.

 For example,

 They offered money to whoever

presented ticket first
(Here entire clause is the object of the
preposition).
 Adjective clauses

 An adjective clause is a dependent

clause that modifies noun or pronoun.

 Adjective clause always begins with

words like when, where, who, whom,
whose, etc.
 Examples

 We are going to a beach that I like

most.

(that I like best is an adjectives clause,

It contains subject I and verb like, and
clause modifies the noun beach).

 Men who are not married are called

bachelors.
Adverbial clauses

 Most of the adverbial

clause beginning with
subordinating clauses
like unless, if, because,
when, although.
 Example

 When volcano started erupting and throwing lava in air,

we drove away as fast as we could.
 Adverbial Clause Examples
 Time:
Subordinates: when, before, after, until, since, as soon as
Example: When he won the money, he decided to buy a
car.
 Place:

Subordinates: where, wherever

Example: She drove wherever she wanted
 Adverbial Clauses
Examples

 Cause
Subordinates: because, as, since
Example: She got a parking ticket because she parked
illegally.

 Purpose
Subordinates: so that, in order that
Example: He drove fast so that he could get to work on
time.

 Result
Subordinates: so ... that, such ... That
Example: He drove so fast that he got a speeding ticket
 Adverbial clauses Examples
 Condition
Subordinates: if, unless. Example: If she hadn’t won the
lottery, she would have been very unhappy.

 Concession
Subordinates: although, even though
Example: Although she thought she was a good driver, she
got a lot of tickets for speeding
 Independent clause along with having subject and verb
expresses a complete thought and can be held alone as
well.
Examples:

Independen She saw him.

t clause
John hurried home.

Free dinner has a price.

 Grammatically complete
sentences like above are
statements that can stand
alone.

 When similar to these are part

of long sentences, it is called
Independent clauses.
More than two main clauses can be
fused by coordinating conjunctions
like and, but, for, nor, so, yet etc.
and by even using semicolons.

The most pivotal part to recall here

is that main or independent clause
can stand alone.
 Examples
 Following is the example where the main clause is a
simple sentence.

 Priya brushed her lengthy, black hairs.

 Examples
 Next example is of coordinating conjunction where and
joins two independent clauses.

 Rahul left, and Priya brushed her lengthy, black hairs.

 Examples
 Next example is where the semicolon is joining two
independent clauses.

 Rahul left; Priya brushed her lengthy, black hairs.

 After she told Rahul to go, Priya brushed her black strands.

In the above sentence, independent clause (Priya brushed

her lengthy, black hairs.) is preceded by a clause that
cannot stand alone (After she told Rahul to leave).
Priya brushed her lengthy, black hair while
she waited for Rahul to leave.

In the above example again, an

independent clause is followed by a clause
that cannot stand alone: while she waited
for Rahul to leave.
Difference between Clause and Phrases

Phrases
 Both clauses and expressions
The phrase is a collection of (phrases) can be found in a
words that defines a concept and single sentence.
is used as a unit in a sentence.
 The cat is sleeping under the
table.
The phrase does not contain a
subject and a verb.  She is drawing a map on the
wall.
Critical differences between Phrase and
Clause
Phrase Clause
 A clause is a part of the
A group of two or more words sentence that has a
related to one another that delivers
a single unit is a phrase subject and a finite verb
form which acts.
A phrase is a part of a sentence
 a clause whereas clause
is a sentence fragment.
Critical differences between Phrase and
Clause
Phrase Clause

A phrase does not have a  A clause has a subject

subject and predicate. and verb.
 The clause can stand
The phrase can stand
alone. alone as a whole
sentence.
phrases are the smaller  Clauses are larger
part of the sentence. units
 Example of both Clause and Phrase

Phrase Clause
The cat is sleeping under
the table.
 on a table, near the wall,
at the door
She is drawing a map on
the wall.

She understands what

you cannot explain in
words (clause).