What is a phrase?
Words can be grouped together, but without a subject or a verb. This is called a phrase.
Because a phrase has neither subject nor verb, it can’t form a ‘predicate’. This is a structure that must contain a verb, and it tells you something about what the subject is doing.
Phrases can be very short – or quite long. Two examples of phrases are:
“After dinner”
“Waiting for the rain to stop”.
Phrases can’t be used alone, but you can use them as part of a sentence, where they are used as parts of speech.
What is a clause?
Clauses are groups of words that have both subjects and predicates. Unlike phrases, a clause can sometimes act as a sentence – this type of clause is called an independent clause. This isn’t always the case, and some clauses can’t be used on their own – these are called subordinate clauses, and need to be used with an independent clause to complete their meaning.
An example of a subordinate clause is “When the man broke into the house”
An example of an independent clause is “the dog barked at him”
While the independent clause could be used by itself as a complete sentence, the subordinate clause could not. For it to be correct, it would need to be paired with another clause: “When the man broke into the house, the dog barked at him.”
