Clause, Phrase, Sentence - Learn The Difference: What Is A Phrase?
Clause, Phrase, Sentence - Learn The Difference: What Is A Phrase?
Clause, Phrase, Sentence - Learn The Difference: What Is A Phrase?
Sentence – Learn
the Difference
These three structures are a common part of English, and are all composed of
groups of words. Clauses, phrases and sentences are very similar, but they do have
different roles. Learning the difference between them will help you make a lot more
sense of English grammar, and will be very useful to improve your written English.
What is a phrase?
Words can be grouped together, but without a subject or a verb. This is called a
phrase.
Because a phrase has neither subject nor verb, it can’t form a ‘predicate’. This is a
structure that must contain a verb, and it tells you something about what the
subject is doing.
Phrases can be very short – or quite long. Two examples of phrases are:
“After dinner”
Phrases can’t be used alone, but you can use them as part of a sentence, where
they are used as parts of speech.
What is a clause?
Clauses are groups of words that have both subjects and predicates. Unlike
phrases, a clause can sometimes act as a sentence – this type of clause is called
an independent clause. This isn’t always the case, and some clauses can’t be used
on their own – these are called subordinate clauses, and need to be used with an
independent clause to complete their meaning.
An example of a subordinate clause is “When the man broke into the house”
While the independent clause could be used by itself as a complete sentence, the
subordinate clause could not. For it to be correct, it would need to be paired with
another clause: “When the man broke into the house, the dog barked at him.”
What is a sentence?
A complete sentence has a subject and predicate, and can often be composed of
more than one clause. As long as it has a subject and a predicate, a group of words
can form a sentence, no matter how short.
E.g. “He went out to dinner but didn’t enjoy the meal.”
Your turn
While clauses, phrases and sentences might seem very similar at first, on closer
look you can start to see how they function very differently. To make sure you use
them correctly, it’s important to practice identifying them.
Try reading different materials, and spotting the phrases, clauses and complete
sentences in a piece of text. Then try to write your own examples of them! And if
you would like to learn English with people from all over the world - check out our
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Kinds of Sentences and Their Punctuation
A sentence may be one of four kinds, depending upon the number and type(s) of clauses it
contains.
Review:
C. a semicolon alone.
Punctuation patterns:
Follow the rules given above for compound and complex sentences.
A compound-complex sentence is merely a combination of the two.