Clauses and phases

Question

I am having following problems with clauses and phases. How do you identify them. How many types of clause and phases there are. Can  a clause be a sentence ?

Suzi · Accepted Answer

A clause has to have a verb (or verb phrase) in it, and can be made up of several other elements, eg a subject, an adverbial etc.

yes, a clause can be a sentence.

what definitions of clauses have you met?

Traditional English grammar defines sentence types rather than clause types, as far as I know, and spotting clauses and how they are joined is the key to defining sentence types

Sentences are defined as: fragments, simple, compound or complex
fragments dont have a verb (not true sentences)
simple is just one clause

compound is two or more clauses joined by a co-ordinating conjunction (e.g and / but / for)

complex is 2 or more clauses joined by a sub-ordinating conjunction (e.g. because, since, although...)

You could look on this website, run by the British Council, which is brilliant for English students and may clarify things for you.
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/

Pedant · Answer

Clauses contain a subject and a predicate. Phrases do not. There are two types of clauses: dependent and independent. The latter can be a sentence by itself. The sentence "He was a long-haul driver who kept his eyes on the road." contains an independent clause ("He was a long-haul driver") and a dependent clause ("who kept his eyes on the road.").

Since phrases are simply clusters of words that form syntactic units, there are any number of different kinds. "On the road" is a prepositional phrase within the afformentioned clause. "Long-haul" is an adjectival phrase.

Suzi · Answer

yeah, I forgot, when you analyse a complex snetence you distinguish the clauses: one or more being dependant, and one being the main clause.

That distinction is not relevant to the other sentence stuctures.

Clauses and phases

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