Phrases Clauses and Sentences

Sentences,
Clauses and Phrases
How to Know One When You See One

Basic Grammar Terminology
To get started, here is a basic review of grammar
terminology.
Part of Speech Function or "job" Example

Verb action or state Peter ate dinner.
Noun thing or person The dog watched the

squirrel.
Adjective describes a noun The hungry dog watched

the grey squirrel.
Adverb describes a verb, The hungry dog intently

adjective or adverb watched the grey squirrel.
Basic Grammar Terminology
…continued
Part of Speech Function or "job" Example

Pronoun replaces a noun He ate dinner.
Preposition links a noun to I gave a bone to the dog.

another word
Conjunction joins clauses or Peter read the paper and

words listened to the radio while
he ate dinner.
What Makes a Sentence?
Peter ate dinner.

Subject = Verb = Object =
noun or expresses noun or
pronoun the action pronoun
that does an or “state”of that
action or the subject receives
experiences the action
a state of of the verb
being
This is also a sentence …
Peter is happy.
Subject Verb Complement
A complement is a great deal like an object, but it differs in

that is does not “receive” the action a verb. Instead it “is”
the subject.
Complements can be nouns or adjectives. The key to
understanding them is understanding the verbs that they
follow.
Verbs that take complements …
(thank you very much!)
Intensive Verbs such as be and feel do not have

action moving “out” of them to affect a noun.
Instead they hold action “within” them.
Look at the images above the verbs in the following

sentences:
Peter threw the bone. Peter is happy.
 The verb threw is NOT an intensive verb (the

action moves out of it to affect the object).
 The verb is IS an intensive verb: Peter and happy

are the same thing, so the mathematical equal sign
better represents the “action” of this intensive verb.
Common Intensive English Verbs
 be
 feel
 seem
 became
Remember that these verbs can be followed by nouns or

adjectives. Either way, the words that follow intensive
verbs “are” the subjects before the verb … that is how
you can identify a complement.
EXAMPLE:
Peter is a teacher. Noun as a complement
Peter is happy. Adjective as a complement
And this is also a sentence …
Peter was in the kitchen.

Subject = Verb = Adverbial =
noun or expresses adverb or
pronoun the action group of
that does an or “state”of words that
action or the subject tells
experiences where,
a state of when, why
being or how the
verb
happened.
More Adverbial Examples
Peter was a student last year.
Peter went to New York to visit his aunt.
Peter drive quickly.

Sentence Components
So, we can symbolize the basic components of a

sentence in the following way:
S+V/O
or C
or A
Where:
S = subject (a noun or pronoun that does an action)
V = verb (the action itself)
/ = “optional”  some verbs do not need an O, C or A
O = object (a noun or pronoun that receives an action)
C = complement (an adjective or noun that is the subject)
A = adverbial (an adverbial that tells more about the action)
But here’s a new question, is this a
sentence?
Peter ate dinner while he watched TV.
Yes, this is a sentence. It is the sentence from an

earlier slide (Peter ate dinner) with additional
information added … now we know that Peter was
doing two things at once, eating dinner and
watching TV.
Let’s take a look at the components of this new

sentence.
Verb
Subject
Object
We have the original subject Peter with its verb ate

and its object dinner.
But the sentence continues with a second subject,

this time he, a second verb, watched, and a second
object, TV.
Clause
Our one sentence is basically two “mini” sentences

hooked together by the word while.
Peter ate dinner. while He

he watched TV.
“Mini” sentences, units of SV/O,C or A, within a

sentence are called clauses.
Clause
continued

1 2
1
This sentence is composed of two clauses.
But we can still add more to this sentence.

A bigger sentence …
After exercising, Peter ate dinner

while he watched TV.
In addition to the two clauses we are familiar

with, this sentence has the added words after
exercising.
The words after exercising work together to

give extra information about the clauses, but
they do not form a clause. They form a
phrase.
Phrase
One way to define a phrase is to say it is a group of
words that “belong together” in terms of meaning but
do not have both a subject and a verb.
Phrase  S + V
Another way to think of a phrase is to think of

how it works within a sentence. When you think
of a phrase this way, you can define it as:
Phrase = a group of words that acts like one word

Phrase
example
Here is a phrase:
1. the gym at the end of the street
It acts like a noun  The gym at the end of the street is new.
It functions as the subject of the

sentence and subjects are nouns.
Phrase
a phrase within a phrase
Phrases can have phrases “in” them.
Look carefully and you will find a phrase within the phrase:
the gym at the end of the street
This phrase within the first phrase acts

like an adjective  The gym at the end of the street is new.
This phrase gives more information

about the noun, thus acting like an
adjective
Phrase
continued – testing to see if you have a phrase
The second phrase, at the end of the street , can be

replaced with a one word adjective such as large.
The gym at the end of the street is new.
large
The large gym is new.
This replacement of the group of words by one word

demonstrates the idea that a phrase is a group of words
acting as one word.
Phrase
testing - continued
The one word that a phrase can be reduced to lets you

know its function within the sentence.
It also serves as a way to classify phrases. This part of

the phrase that “holds” its function within the greater
sentence is called the head.
In English, the head is often the first word of the phrase.

Phrase
naming phrases
Phrases are be classified by the type of head they take:
•Prepositional phrase with a preposition as head

(e.g. in love, over the rainbow)
•Noun phrase with a noun as head

(e.g. the black cat, a cat on the mat)
•Verb phrase with a verb as head

(e.g. eat cheese, jump up and down)
•Adjectival phrase with an adjective as head (e.g. full of toys)
•Adverbial phrase with adverb as head (e.g. very carefully)
Examples from: http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/phrase

Putting it all together
Sentences are composed of clauses and phrases.

Some sentences have only one clause and no
phrase:
Peter ate dinner.

Others have two or more clauses:
1 2
Because Peter ate dinner while he watched TV,
he got indigestion.
3
3
Putting it all together
continued
Other sentences have clauses and phrases.
After exercising at the gym across

the street, Peter ate dinner in the
kitchen while he watched TV.
Using Clauses and Phrases
Once identifying clauses and phrases becomes

easy for you, you will begin to notice how good
writers put their sentence together.
Additionally, once you become comfortable finding

clauses and phrases in writing, you can begin to
work with the punctuation rules for correctly and
effectively putting clauses and phrases together.
For now, simply test out your knowledge of

sentences, clauses and phrases.

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What are the main components of a sentence?

What are the main components of a sentence?

What are the different types of phrases?

What are the different types of phrases?

Sentences,

Clauses and Phrases

How to Know One When You See One

Part of Speech Function or "job" Example

Noun thing or person The dog watched the

Adjective describes a noun The hungry dog watched

Adverb describes a verb, The hungry dog intently

Part of Speech Function or "job" Example

Preposition links a noun to I gave a bone to the dog.

Conjunction joins clauses or Peter read the paper and

Peter ate dinner.

A complement is a great deal like an object, but it differs in

Intensive Verbs such as be and feel do not have

Look at the images above the verbs in the following

Peter threw the bone. Peter is happy.

 The verb threw is NOT an intensive verb (the

 The verb is IS an intensive verb: Peter and happy

Remember that these verbs can be followed by nouns or

Peter was in the kitchen.

Peter was a student last year.

Peter went to New York to visit his aunt.

Peter drive quickly.

So, we can symbolize the basic components of a

Peter ate dinner while he watched TV.

Yes, this is a sentence. It is the sentence from an

Let’s take a look at the components of this new

Peter ate dinner while he watched TV.

We have the original subject Peter with its verb ate

But the sentence continues with a second subject,

Our one sentence is basically two “mini” sentences

Peter ate dinner. while He

“Mini” sentences, units of SV/O,C or A, within a

Peter ate dinner while he watched TV.

But we can still add more to this sentence.

After exercising, Peter ate dinner

In addition to the two clauses we are familiar

The words after exercising work together to

Another way to think of a phrase is to think of

Phrase = a group of words that acts like one word

It functions as the subject of the

Phrases can have phrases “in” them.

the gym at the end of the street

This phrase within the first phrase acts

This phrase gives more information

The second phrase, at the end of the street , can be

The gym at the end of the street is new.

The large gym is new.

This replacement of the group of words by one word

The one word that a phrase can be reduced to lets you

It also serves as a way to classify phrases. This part of

In English, the head is often the first word of the phrase.

•Prepositional phrase with a preposition as head

•Noun phrase with a noun as head

•Verb phrase with a verb as head