Phrases & Clauses Definitions

Phrase

A phrase is a group of related words. One of the two word groups following is a phrase:

the on dog berry ran plunder up
a sarcastic sheep sauntered slowly

Obviously the second group, "a sarcastic sheep...", is a phrase, while the second can best described as gibberish.

Phrases can be divided various ways, but for our purposes, we'll classify them as either prepositional or verbal.

Prepositional Phrases

These are same type mentioned in the Parts of Speech section; that is, prepositional phrases are composed of prepositions, modifiers, and objects.

...in the house
...on the floor

Verbal Phrases

Verbal phrases are a bit more complicated. All the verbal phrases, logically enough, revolve around the use of a verb. But-- the verb does not function as a predicate. The verb instead acts as a base for other sentence functions.

English commonly uses three verbal phrases:

Infinitive

Participle

Gerund

---

Infinitive

An infinitive is the word "to" immediately followed by a verb in the present tense. Or, an infinitive is the word "to" immediately followed by a verb with no endings. Typically, the verb is an action verb. An infinitive can perform any sentence function except that of predicate. Note the infinitive in the sentences below:

She learned to ski.

I need to study.

An infinitive phrase is, of course, composed of an infinitive; it also has an "object."

To see her is to love her.

Gerund

A gerund is a verb with an "-ing" that functions as a noun. The verb is usually an action verb, though "being" is often used to form a special construction. The gerund can have an object to form a gerund phrase. The sentences below have a gerund and a gerund phrase:

Spelling is fun.

Swimming upstream is difficult.

Participle

The present tense ending of a verb (-“ing” ) or the past tense ending (-“ed” for regular verbs but also “en,” “t,” etc. for irregular verbs) form the participle. A participle always functions as a modifier. With modifiers, the participle forms a participial phrase.

The cold, dark, swirling water swallowed the leaf.

Pete walked across the broken glass.

---

Clauses

A clause is a group of related words which contains a subject/predicate relationship. An independent, or main clause, needs nothing else to explain it. A main clause can stand alone. Dependent clauses, however, do need a main clause to help explain them. Dependent clauses cannot stand alone.

Dependent clauses are subdivided into three groups:

Adjective

Adverb

Noun

Adjective Clause

Adjective clauses, sometimes called relative clauses, function as adjectives by modifying noun or noun substitutes.

The cat which ate the rat died.

Uncle Joe remembers a time when the world was at war.

Adverb Clause

A dependent adverbial clause functions as an adverb, modifying adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs. The adverb clauses always beings with a subordinate conjunction.

School was cancelled because dangerous weather was approaching.

When the snow starts, the students go home.

Noun Clause

A noun clause is a clause that performs one of the sentence functions of a noun: subject, object, appositive, complement (predicate noun), object of a preposition

Whoever wins the contest is lucky.

No one knows what he is talking about.

Return to ENG 111 Handouts