PHRASES AND CLAUSES

PHRASES  AND  CLAUSES

We have learnt that a sentence is a group of words connected as per certain grammatical rules so as to make a complete idea that we want to communicate. We have also learnt that a sentence consists of two parts, subject and predicate, and a verb is an essential component of the predicate. Subjects are generally made of nouns and pronouns.

However, there are situations when a group of words, though has a meaning cannot be termed as a sentence, or when a group of words satisfies all conditions of a sentence but in essence forms only a part of a bigger sentence. Such groups are known as Phrases and Clauses.

In this post we shall learn about them.

THE PHRASE

We go back to the sentence - Ravi throws a stone into the pond. Now, let us examine the group of words into the pond. It has a meaning; it makes sense but does not convey the complete sense.  

Such a group of words, that makes sense but not the complete sense, is called a Phrase.

In the following sentences the underlined group of words are phrases:

The arrow is made of bamboo.

The book is lying on the table.

Please tell me how to do it.

The sun rises in the east.

A phrase does not contain a subject and a verb. 

THE CLAUSE

A clause is defined as a group of related words that contains a subject and predicate (verb). A clause may be either a full sentence (independent clause) or a sentence-like construction within another sentence (dependent or subordinate clause).

Let us consider the following sentence:

Ravi married Rekha when she was twenty.

It is a full sentence and we can break it in two strings - Ravi married Rekha and when she was twenty. The first string, Ravi married Rekha, could be a sentence on its own because it imparts a complete sense and we understand the idea contained in the communication. We may not have any further query. It is an independent or the main clause.

But the other string, when she was twenty, cannot be regarded as a full sentence on its own because it fails to satisfy our query; we are compelled to ask further: ‘what happened when she was twenty?’ or ‘when was she twenty?’, and so on. The full significance of this string becomes apparent only when we combine it with the other string, Ravi married Rekha. That means it is dependent on the main clause for its complete sense. Hence, it is termed as a subordinate or a dependent clause.

A clause is a sentence-like construction contained within a sentence. The construction when she was twenty is 'sentence-like' in the sense that we can analyse it in terms of major sentence elements (subject, verb, etc.). It has its own subject (she), it has a verb (was), and it has a subject complement (twenty).

Difference between Clauses and Phrases

Clauses contrast with Phrases. Clauses contain phrases. Clauses are bigger than the simple phrases they contain. The crucial characteristic of a clause, distinguishing it from a phrase, is that a clause normally has its own verb and all or many of the other basic ingredients of a whole sentence.

Consider the following example:

                He is laughing at the joker.

The above sentence has two parts - he is laughing and at the joker. The first part of the sentence he is laughing is a clause because it has a subject (he) and a predicate (is laughing).

The second part of the sentence at the joker is a phrase because it does not contain a subject and a verb.

More examples:

The underlined part of each of following sentences is a clause, while the non-underlined part of each sentence denotes a phrase.

         Ravi reached school in time.
         Sudha is standing near a wall.
         Mother made tea for the guests.
         You look handsome in this picture.

Link;

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