Phrase Clause

A group of words without a subject-verb A group of words that contains a subject and a
component. verb.
1. Noun phrase e.g. my best friend 1. Independent clause= makes sense on
2. Verb phrase e.g. was working its own as a sentence.
e.g. I went to school.
3. Adjective phrase e.g. very pretty 2. Dependent clause = doesn’t make
4. Adverb phrase e.g. really slowly sense on its own as a sentence.
5. Prepositional phrase e.g. in the bus e.g. Although I wasn’t feeling well, I
went to school.
Phrases and clauses
 Phrases and clauses are the building blocks of sentences.
 What is a phrase?
 A group of words without a subject-verb component, used as a single part of speech.
 A phrase is
1. made up of a group of words
2. makes sense but not complete sense
3. cannot stand alone as a sentence
4. used as a single part of speech
5. may have a partial subject or verb but not both
6. or it may have neither a subject nor a verb

Example:

1. My friend is a good football player.

2. He is sleeping on the bed.
3. Fish swims in the water.
4. She is sleeping on the floor.
5. They will meet at the concert.
6. Sun was rising over the horizon.
7. She is sketching on the wall.

Noun Phrase
A phrase that acts like a noun in the sentence is called a noun phrase. It contains a noun (called
as headword) and other words which modify a noun.

Noun phrase = Noun+ modifiers (or determiners)

Examples:
 1. They bought a huge beautiful house.
2. She bought a decent black shirt.
3. One of our relatives never drinks coffee.
4. A woman in the window shouted for help.

 A sentence can also consist of more than one noun phrase.

 One of our close relatives bought a beautiful red car. (noun as subject and object)

 A noun phrase may consist of only one word as well. That word is either a noun or a
pronoun.
 Mary left late.
 She left late.
 Cheese is expensive.
 It is expensive.

 A noun phrase may consist of more than one word. One of these words, a noun or a
pronoun, is the headword. The other words describe or modify the headword.
 the tall girl
 the very tall girl
 a strikingly beautiful girl
 the tall girl with green eyes

Examples:

 The spotted puppy is up for adoption. (noun phrase as a subject)

 The house was brightly decorated for the party. (noun phrase as a subject)
 At the zoo, I saw a striped zebra. (noun phrase as an object to the verb “saw”)
 I want a cute puppy for Christmas. (noun phrase as an object to the verb “want”)
 Mary lives in an eclectic household. (noun phrase as a prepositional object;
preposition= in)
 John drives to an awful job every morning. (noun phrase as a prepositional object;
preposition= to)
 The car wash was out of order. (car acting as adjective)
 The Emirates flight to New York is ready to board. (Emirates acting as adjective)
 She kindly offered water to the gardener working in the hot sun. ( noun phrase as a
participle)
  Having been a police officer, he knew how to defend himself. ( noun phrase as a
participle)
 The ability to give to others is an important character trait. ( noun phrase as “to
infinitive”)
 Our decision to get married was celebrated by all our friends. ( noun phrase as “to
infinitive”)
 She crawled through the dark and musty attic. (noun phrase as part of a prepositional
phrase; preposition= through)
 He had to sit beside the horribly angry girl. (noun phrase as part of a prepositional
phrase; preposition= beside)

Adjective Phrase
An adjective phrase is a group of words that act as an adjective in the sentence.

Adjective Adjective Phrase

the Pakistani flag the flag of Pakistan

a pink coat a coat of pink colour
a smiling baby a baby with a smile
a golden crown a crown made of gold
a purple cloak a cloak of purple colour
a white elephant an elephant with a white skin
a jungle track a track through the jungle
a blue-eyed boy a boy with blue eyes
a deserted village a village without any inhabitants
a blank page a page with no writing on it
the longest day the day of greatest length
the Spanish flag the flag of Spain
a heavy load a load of great weight

 A prepositional phrase that modifies a noun or a pronoun is called an adjective phrase.

An adjective phrase generally follows the word it modifies.

 Example:
 We ordered a dish of fish and chips.
 No one in the group has heard the story yet.
 The food in the refrigerator is very fresh.
 Yesterday, a guest in our cooking class gave a lecture about potatoes.
  Mr. Sims told the students that potatoes were first grown by the Inca Indians of Bolivia,
Chile, and Peru.
 Students also learned that potato growers throughout the world produce nearly six
billion bags of potatoes each year.
 Lisa is always full of life.
 Mary is slow and steady.
 This rule is now null and void.
 The movie was really excellent.

 Two or more adjective phrases may modify the same word.

 Example:
 The picture of their mayor in today’s newspaper is not at all flattering.

 An adjective phrase may also modify the object of a prepositional phrase.

 Example:
 The apple trees in the park near the bay were planted a long ago.

Adverb Phrase
Just as the work of an Adjective is often done by a group of words called an Adjective Phrase, so
the work of an Adverb is often done by a group of words.

Read the following pairs of sentences carefully:

1. (a) Rama ran quickly. (How?)

(b) Rama ran with great speed. (How?)

2. (a) He answered rudely. (How?)

(b) He answered in a very rude manner. (How?)

3. (a) He does his work carelessly. (How?)

(b) He does his work without any care. (How?)

4. (a) He is coming now. (When?)

(b) He is coming at this very moment. (When?)

5. (a) No such diseases were known then. (When?)

(b) No such diseases were known in those days. (When?)

6. (a) The arrow fell here. (Where?)

(b) The arrow fell on this spot. (Where?)

7. (a) You can buy it everywhere. (Where?)

(b) You can buy it in all places. (Where?)

8. (a) He fell down. (Where?)

(b) He fell to the ground. (Where?)

In each of the above pairs of sentences we have first a single word (an Adverb) modifying a
verb, and then a group of words modifying a verb in the same way.

Definition : An Adverb Phrase is a group of words that does the work of an Adverb.

Read the following Adverbs and the Adverb Phrases that are equivalent to them.

Adverbs -- Adverb Phrases

Bravely -- In a brave manner, or with bravery.

Unwisely -- In an unwise manner, or without wisdom.

Swiftly -- In a swift manner, or with swiftness.

Beautifully -- In a beautiful style.

Formerly -- In former times, or once upon a time.

Recently -- Just now, or at a recent date.

Soon -- Before very long, or at an early date.

There -- At that place.

Away -- To another place.

Abroad -- To (in) a foreign country.

 Verb Phrase
A verb phrase conducts the task of a verb. They include the helping verb and main verb in a
sentence.

Examples:

 The author is writing a new book.

 The dog might eat the cake.
 He was walking to work today.
 He got married after college.
 She was walking quickly to the mall.
 You must go right now.
 Words were spoken.

Prepositional Phrase
A group of words that consists of

 a preposition
 the object of the preposition
 any modifiers

Example: object of the preposition

The genie from the brass lamp granted three wishes.

preposition modifier

Patterns for a preposition phrase

 Preposition+ Noun, Pronoun, Gerund or a clause

 Preposition + Modifier(s)/ determiner, Noun, Pronoun, Gerund or a clause

Examples:

 at home (at= preposition, home= noun)

 in time (in= preposition, time= noun)
 with me (with= preposition, me= pronoun)
 from my grandfather (from= preposition, my= determiner, grandfather= noun)
 under the warm blanket (under= preposition, the= determiner, warm= modifier,
blanket= noun)
 along the busy six-lane highway (along= preposition, the= determiner, busy, six-lane=
modifiers, highway = noun)

 A prepositional phrase will function as an adjective or adverb. As an adjective, the

prepositional phrase will answer the question “which one”?
 Examples:
 The old school on the hilltop is haunted. (Adjectival Prepositional Phrase)
Which school= the one on the hilltop
 The children sang songs in the evening. (Adverbial Prepositional Phrase)
When=in the evening
 Sally is inside the store. (Verb Complement Prepositional Phrase)
Completes the meaning of the verb
 Considering the circumstances, we decided to run.
Modifies the entire sentence
 Behind the school is a park. (Prepositional phrase acting as a noun)

Clauses
A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a verb. A clause can act as
a sentence or a part of a sentence. The subject of a clause can be mentioned or hidden
but the verb must be visible.
 Examples:
 Ann went to the park.
 I want some cereal.
 Ali likes cats.
 Joseph is a player.
 She cried.
 They ate ice cream.
 My students are awesome.
 Come here. (subject is hidden; You come here.)
 A sentence can have more than one clause.
Examples:
 I graduated last year. (one clause sentence)
 When I came here, I saw him. (two clause sentence)
 When I came here, I saw him, and he greeted me. (three clause sentence)
 Noun clause

Independent
clause/Main
clause/ Principal Adjective clause
Clause clause
A group of words that
contains a subject Dependent
and a verb. clause/subordinat Adverb clause
e clause

subject + verb = clause

The dog runs.

TYPES OF CLAUSES
There are two basic types of clauses in English: an independent clause and a dependent
clause.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE:

An independent clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb and can form a
sentence. It does not require the support of other clauses.

subject + verb

Examples

 Erica reads.
 They play.
 We sit.

DEPENDENT CLAUSE:
A dependent clause, also known as a subordinate clause, is a group of words that is not a
sentence but adds information to the main part of a sentence. A dependent clause is typically
introduced with a conjunction, words like: before, because, so, if.

conjunction + subject + verb

Examples:

 before she goes to sleep

 and we ate
 but it fell

These examples cannot stand on their own as independent sentences; thus, they are
dependent clauses. We call them ‘dependent’ because they depend on an independent clause
to form a complete sentence.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE + DEPENDENT CLAUSE

Erica reads before she goes to sleep.

TYPES OF DEPENDENT CLAUSES

Noun Clause
A noun clause is a group of words that contains a subject and verb, but the entire clause acts as
a single noun. Many noun clauses start with: that, how, who, what, where, when, or why.

 She knew how it broke.

how it broke is a noun clause

 We saw where they went.

where they went is a noun clause

You will know it’s a noun clause if you can easily replace the clause with a pronoun, like:

 She knew how it broke.

 She knew him.

Adverb Clause
  An adverb clause is a dependent clause that acts as an adverb in a sentence. They help
to qualify the meanings of verbs, adjectives, clauses, and other adverbs.
 Adverb clauses help to answer when, where, why, how and by how much.
 Adverb clauses often start with one of the subordinating conjunctions: after, as, though,
since, because, etc.
 These clauses are quite flexible and can be used at the beginning, end, or middle of a
sentence to add more detail.

Examples:

Adverb clause In a sentence

if you pay for the snacks If you pay for the snacks, I’ll get the pizza.
because she was early Paula had to help set up because she was
early.

Adjective Clause
 An adjective clause is a group of words that acts as an adjective in a sentence. They are
dependent clauses that give more information about a noun or pronoun.
 Adjective clauses typically come directly after the noun they modify.
 We often use words like that, which, whom, and whose with adjective clauses.

Examples:

Adjective clause In a sentence

whose birthday is tomorrow Clara, whose birthday is tomorrow, is going to
be late.
which we are going to visit in spring Mum’s hometown, which we are going to visit
in spring, is very far away.

COORDINATE CLAUSE
 Coordinate clauses are two or more independent clauses in a sentence, often joined by
coordinate conjunctions (and, or, but, etc.) that make separate statements that each
has equal importance.
  We form compound sentences by linking together coordinate clauses.

EXAMPLE

 she is travelling by train

 she prefers to travel by car

When we combine these two independent clauses using a coordinate conjunction, they
become: coordinate clauses.

She is travelling by train, but she prefers to travel by car.

 but= coordinating conjunction