Sentences : Phrases and Clauses

Phrase

Sometimes a group of two or more words make sense but may not convey complete meaning.

For example :

• in the bag
• at seven o'clock
• purple and green

Look at these examples :

• the tall boy (verb is missing)
• ran fast (subject is missing)
• around the track (subject and verb are missing)

In the phrase, either the subject, the verb, or both are missing.

Clause

A clause is a group of words that has both a subject and a predicate. It may form a sentence or be a part of a sentence.

For example :

• He ran fast yet he could not catch the train.

In the above sentence two clauses are there. First is He ran fast, this clause has its own subject 'he' and verb 'ran'. The second clause has a subject 'he' and its verb 'could not catch'. It is not possible that all the clauses make complete sense.'he ran fast,' shows complete sense but 'yet he could not catch the train' does not show a complete sense. The second clause is a dependent clause.

Thus we can say that 'He ran fast' is a complete sentence as well as a clause but 'yet he could not catch the train, is only a clause not a sentence because it does not express complete sense and is dependent upon the first clause.

Types of Clauses

There are two types of clauses.

Independent or Main clause

An independent or main clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence.

For example :

• We played football yesterday.

Dependent or Subordinate clause

A dependent or subordinate clause expresses a partial thought and cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

For example :

• Because it was a holiday.

Here, the clause expresses a thought, but it needs a main clause to complete the meaning.

Dependent clause does not express a complete thought.

• A dependent clause is usually combined with an independent clause to form a sentence.
  For example :
  
  • We played football yesterday because it was a holiday.


• Two independent clauses can also be combined with a conjunction to form a sentence.
  For example :
  
  • I played football and my brother read a book.