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Clauses and phrases are the building blocks of sentences. Every sentence must have at least one clause to be considered grammatically correct. Understanding how clauses and phrases work will help you better understand sentence structure. You’ll need to have a working knowledge of subjects, predicates, and objects before you continue.
Clauses
A clause is a subject and a predicate working together.
Examples
I took the dog to the park.
The example has one subject, I, and one predicate, took. Since they are working together to form a comprehensible sentence, this sentence has one clause.
I love learning, so I spend a lot of time reading.
This example has two predicates: love and spend. Since they are each working together with separate subjects, this sentence has two clauses.
Phrases
A phrase is a group of words related to the subject, predicate, or object. Phrases do not contain a subject and a predicate, or we would call them clauses. Phrases provide additional information about subjects, predicates, and / or objects, and understanding how they work is helpful to building an analyzing sentences.
Examples
After working late into the night, Jack fell asleep on his desk.
The emboldened portion of the sentence exemplifies the phrase. It provides additional information about our subject, Jack, but the sentence does not require this information to be grammatically complete.
I left my keys inside of the Whole Foods, my favorite grocery store.
In this example sentence, the predicate is left and the subject is I. On the other side of the sentence we have a phrase that provides additional information about the object of the sentence Whole Foods. Note that a phrase can come at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.
Click here to learn about independent and dependent clauses.
Clauses and Phrases Worksheets and Activities
Clauses Worksheet – Here’s a fun, mall-themed worksheet to help your students better recognizes clauses and sentence structure. Students identify the subjects, predicates, and objects in 15 sentences and determine how many clauses are in each sentence. Â Then students write original sentences with a variety of clauses.
Clauses Worksheet 01 | RTF
Clauses Worksheet 01 | PDF
Clauses Worksheet 01 | Preview
Clauses Worksheet 01 | Ereading Worksheet – Online Test
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Joining Clauses and the Circus – Students read the circus themed sentences and join the clauses using coordinating and subordinating conjunctions without creating run-on sentences.
Joining Clauses and the Circus RTF
Joining Clauses and the Circus PDF
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Ninjas! – Independent and Dependent Clauses – Read the paragraph about ninjas. Circle dependent clauses and underline independent clauses.
Ninjas and Clauses RTF
Ninjas and Clauses PDF
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Clauses and Phrases Worksheets – Features the exciting theme of leprechauns. Circle the predicates, underline the subject, double underline the phrases.
Clauses and Phrases Worksheet RTF
Clauses and Phrases Worksheet PDF
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Clauses Lesson – Slide show lesson teaching students independent and dependent clauses and phrases. It includes a practice assessment after the lesson.
Clauses Lesson PPT
Clauses and Phrases PowerPoint Lesson – This slideshow is a revision of the above lesson, but it has been both simplified and expanded.
Clauses and Phrases PowerPoint Lesson
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Pulkit
/ July 19, 2019Please sir can you explain the types of clauses
Pulkit
/ July 19, 2019Sir can you teach me some tricks to identify phrases and clauses tomorrow is my exam
Ariv
/ July 18, 2019I still dont understand it
Amudha Godfrey Fernando
/ March 4, 2019Can u give the answer
As soon as possible
Mr. Morton
/ March 6, 2019Which answer?
Nishi
/ February 28, 2019Plz provide some worksheet and test papers to
Solve and gain more marks
Mustansir
/ February 21, 2019I want to give test of adverb clauses and phrases
Ritika
/ October 13, 2018What is a phrase?
Mr. Morton
/ October 13, 2018A phrase is a group of words containing a subject OR predicate (or object) but not a subject AND a predicate. A subject AND a predicate makes a clause.
There are lots of different types of phrases. For example, the prepositional phrase, which provides information about the location of the subject or object in time and/or space.
I left my folder under the desk.
This is a prepositional phrase providing more information about the location of an object (the folder) in relation to another object (the desk).
Phrases often provide additional information and are not essential to the sentence construction, unlike the clause, which is the essential part of the sentence, I left in the above example.
Chirag Shah
/ October 3, 2018Very nice work Mr Morton
Keira
/ July 3, 2018Thanks a lot. This helped me. Tomorrow is my exam and this is just the right thing i need.. Thanks a lot! Have a nice day, Mr. Morton. 😀
surjith
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blue
/ September 5, 2017i liked the worksheets.
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Alegbe Joyce
/ May 21, 2017Great !
meghana
/ May 20, 2017sir what is the difference between a subordinate
and coordinating clause?
jane
/ May 15, 2017Can you have a dependent clause without subject or verb even though it does not have a complete thought?
Mr. Morton
/ May 31, 2017No, by definition a clause must have a subject and a predicate. Conjunctions are what make them dependent.
mubasher ktk
/ March 18, 2017Sir
I am confused in sentence , phrase and clause. Give me 10 of 5 examples of each in a same sentence
Mr. Morton
/ March 22, 2017Clauses.
1. This is a clause.
2. Clauses have subjects and predicates.
3. Clauses can stand by themselves and express a complete thought.
4. Some sentences have multiple clauses.
5. Sentences with just one clause are called “simple sentences.”
Phrases
1. The frequently used phrases
2. cannot stand alone
3. The red, red horse
Well, I hope you get the idea.
farah
/ July 13, 2018Thanks a lot sir. This is really helpful for the second language learners.
taylor
/ March 13, 2017this is kind of tough sir. any extra helps??
jamal
/ March 6, 2017Tell me whether it is phrase or clause in following sentence
Because of the cost which I bought from the pot pouri
Mal
/ March 10, 2019because of the cost which i bought from the poy pouri
Hey Jamal,
Jamal first ,the punctuation of your sentence is wrong.It should be like – Because of the cost, which i bought from pot pouri.
so, this sentence is a subordinate clause.
logan waldschmidt
/ March 2, 2017could you please make a dependent and independent clause about how to become a ninjas please today
Jacquilin
/ January 31, 2017Dear sir,
I am confused between Past Perfect and Present Perfect tense.
Mr. Morton
/ March 13, 2017What confuses you?
Lavish Beniwal
/ December 13, 2016What is the difference between phrase and dependent clause?
Mr. Morton
/ March 14, 2017A clause has a subject and a predicate. A phrase does not.
Krithik
/ September 8, 2016Help me in clauses
Mr. Morton
/ September 10, 2016How can I help you?
dharmendra shakya
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Mr. Morton
/ February 9, 2016Hello.
Sentences are grammatical units containing at least one subject and a predicate.
Predicates are verbs.
Tense is related to verbs.
It is well known that verbs express actions,
but it is lesser known that verbs have the extra role of showing time.
We conjugate verbs to show time. This is called verb tense.
Since every sentence must have a verb, and every verb has a tense, every sentence has a tense.
Let’s Look at an Example:
Mr. Morton walked to the store.
This sentence has one predicate, which is the verb walked.
Walked is the past tense verb form of walk.
The past tense form of a verb shows that the action occurred in the past. It is usually formed by adding “-ed” to the end of the verb.
If you want to know more about verbs and verb tense, or subjects and predicates, you should check out my free parts of speech web app. I think Units 2 and 6 would be of interest to you.
Best wishes!
nada kh.
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Sola
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Shuvankar Biswas
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Lillian
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a_emad
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Kanika
/ September 19, 2014Thank u for sorting out my problem . Have a nice day
Mr. Morton
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