Phrase Clause and Sentence

Phrases, Clauses and Sentences
Phrases, Clauses and Sentences are the most important structural units of language.
They provide structure and meaning to almost all the languages. The phrases and clauses
provide a sense to a sentence. Here we will discuss this and learn about the constituents of a
sentence structure with the help of interesting example sentence for each.
Phrases, Clauses and Sentences
A complete understanding of the structural parameters is crucial to the understanding

of the meaning of sentences. Here we will study all of the three components of a sentence
structure, one by one. Let us begin with phrases.
Phrase
Any group of meaningful words that don’t make complete sense is a phrase. If taken
alone i.e. without other words, it will not be meaningful at all. Preposition and a However, a
phrase occurs inside a sentence as its structural part.
Some of the examples of phrases are: in ten steps, the great man, a pink flower, the thick
canopy, expansion term, etc. Phrases are of several types as follows:
 Prepositional Phrase: This group of words begin with a preposition. The preposition
precedes a noun or a pronoun or something which acts as a noun or a pronoun. Let us
see some examples. Eid is a wonderful occasion. She was lost at sea. I am writing this
essay for the entire class. The entire prepositional phrase acts as an adverb or an
adjective most of the times.
 Noun Phrase: This is a phrase that acts as a noun in a sentence. A noun or a pronoun
and its modifiers make up a noun phrase. For example, The man takes a bus every day
to work. Arif has a very beautiful bag with him.
 Verb Phrase: This phrase will contain a main verb and one or more helping verb. These
two will have a link that connects them together. This phrase will define the various
times of the action in a sentence. For example, The car is moving in a circle. Will he be
eating the entire buffet? How are you doing? These are some of the common examples
and the structure is auxiliary/modal verb + auxiliary verb + auxiliary verb + main verb
(as in the sentence above).
Clause
A clause is also a group of words but this group must contain the subject and a
predicate. Hence, a clause can make complete sense even when present outside the sentence.
A clause is that part of a sentence that contains the subject and the predicate. For example, I
have a dog. The snow is falling since yesterday. Clauses are of following types:
 Main or Independent Clause: The main clause is that part of a sentence that not only
contains the subject and the predicate but also makes perfect sense if we take it out of
the sentence. in other words we can say that this clause does not need a context to
make sense. For example, China is growing at a very fast rate and this has surprised
many economists. The clauses in bold are independent clauses.
 Subordinate or Dependent Clause: A subordinate or a dependent clause must also
contain the subject and the predicate. The only condition is that these kinds of clauses
won’t make proper sense without another clause. The dependent clause depends on the
main clause for deriving a proper meaning. Let us see some examples: The country is
going from bad to worse. Asif has a dog which can stand on two legs. That is the
umbrella which I bought online. Iran has a very beautiful culture which is also one of
the oldest cultures in the world. The words in bold are the subordinate clauses.
Sentence and Sentence Structure
We define a sentence as a collection of words that make a certain intended sense. The
definition is also sometimes put as a collection or group of words that make sense to a reader.
Grammatically, we say that a sentence must have a predefined structure. A sentence may
contain a subject, a predicate, verbs and auxiliary verbs etc.
A sentence could be a command, a statement, an exclamation, a question. It has a main clause
and sometimes many clauses with at least one main clause. The sentence has to end with a full
stop and must have a finite verb in it. For example: Wait here. Put it on. I am a very strong
person but I also need to know more. The sentence structure has the following basic parts:
 Subject: About which something is being said.

 Predicate: Tells us something about the subject.
 Direct object: A person or thing that is affected by the verb.
 Indirect object: Usually followed by direct objects.
 The object of the preposition: Functions as a noun or pronoun and comes right after the
preposition.
 Verbs: Indicates action, the occurrence of something or state of being.
 Phrases: Makes sense but not complete sense, thus can’t stand alone.
 Complements: It provides complete meaning to a subject, an object or a verb.
Directions: Read and analyze each sentence. Circle the predicates and underline the
subjects. Draw a line separating the clauses in the sentence, count them, and write the
amount of clauses on the line.
Subject: a noun or pronoun that takes the predicate.

Predicate: an action or state of being (verb).
Clause: a subject and a predicate working together.
Example: She ate the donuts. It is cold in the classroom | but it is hot in the hall
S P (one clause) S P S P (two clauses)
1. My sister and I were at my grandma's house when the phone rang.
2. We were watching TV on the couch, the old brown one, and eating sandwiches.
3. It was Jan, my sister's friend, and she wanted to talk to my sister.
4. I said, "I'll go get her, Jan," and then I went to get her.
5. My sister almost fainted because she's the biggest fan of the Dance Boys.
6. "I love the Dance Boys," she said excitedly.
7. Jan, my sister, and I all hopped on the bus to the mall to see the Dance Boys.
8. Jan told my sister that the new super group, the Dance Boys, was at the mall.
9. I'm not really a fan of the Dance Boys, but I like to go to the mall, so I went.
10. When we got there, the mall was packed with Dance Boy fans.
11. Everyone wore Dance Boy shirts except me because I hate the Dance Boys.
12. While the Dance Boys sang, Jan danced, but I played games on my cell phone.
13. I challenged one of the Dance Boys to a dance battle but he was scared.
14. Since we went to the mall, I've been working on my moves, but I'm still bad.
15. If Jan, my sister, and I go to the mall again, I'll surely walk around and shop.

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Phrases, Clauses and Sentences

Phrases, Clauses and Sentences

A complete understanding of the structural parameters is crucial to the understanding

Sentence and Sentence Structure

 Subject: About which something is being said.

Subject: a noun or pronoun that takes the predicate.

1. My sister and I were at my grandma's house when the phone rang.

3. It was Jan, my sister's friend, and she wanted to talk to my sister.

6. "I love the Dance Boys," she said excitedly.

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