What is a clause and a phrase?

Question

I have learned that clauses contain a subject and a verb and then I was wondering if 'you know' or 'I think' itself is a phrase or a clause when they are put with commas like 'You know, I like it ' and 'It is raining, I think'?

What do you native English speakers think? Thank you so much as usual.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Hans51I was wondering if 'you know' and 'I think' are phrases or clauses

They are clauses in both traditional and modern grammar.

In traditional grammar, a phrase is an expression forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence but not containing a finite verb
In modern grammar, a clause is an expression forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence containing any verb form, finite or non-finite. For some grammarians, the verb can be implicit.

The lady wearing the fancy red hat is my aunt. In traditional grammar, the underlined is a phrase. I modern grammar, it is a clause.

Fivejedjon · Answer

In each of your examples, there are two clauses - in the traditional meaning of the word 'clause'.

Hans51 · Answer

Thank you so much and I was confused because of this answer.

"It is, I think, raining. Again, the phrase seems less important. The two commas separate it from the rest of the sentence, making it seem parenthetical."

I think that here the teacher used the word phrase to refer to 'I think' or do you think that the word phrase here does not refer to 'I think' or do you just think that it might be a misuse or mistake?

I respect all of you and thank you so much again. Please get me out of this confusion.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

"I think" is a main clause.
If you rearrange the sentence without changing its meaning, you see that "I think" is the main clause and "it is raining" is a dependent noun clause.

I think it is raining.

The same rearrangement is possible with direct speech as well as indirect speech:

"I know," she said, "that Mary is sick."
She said, "I know that Mary is sick."
"I know that Mary is sick," she said.

Fivejedjon · Answer

Hans51 I was confused because of this answer.

I think that part of your confusion may be that some grammarians today use the words 'phrase' and 'clause' in rather different ways that some of us were taught many years ago.I agree with what AS wrote, but don't be surprised if you read different views.

Clive · Answer

"It is, I think, raining. Again, the phrase seems less important. The two commas separate it from the rest of the sentence, making it seem parenthetical."

I think that here the teacher used the word phrase to refer to 'I think' or do you think that the word phrase here does not refer to 'I think' or do you just think that it might be a misuse or mistake?

The teacher was referring to 'I think'. I know this, because the teacher was me.

Here's how I interpret the above example. The speaker (or writer) starts off intending to say 'It is raining'. He gets part way through saying this, and then decides to toss in 'I think' in order to show some uncertainty. That's why I said the words were parenthetical. In a case like this, it seems to me misleading to refer to the parenthetical 'I think' as the main clause. I see it more as an interjection.

I called I think a phrase because it is, as my dictionary defines a phrase, a small group of words forming a conceptual unit. I didn't give my choice of the word a lot of deep thought, as that was not the focus of the idea I was trying to express.. .

Clive

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Fivejedjon · Answer

In future, Hans, please tell us who the 'teacher' is, or provide a link to the post concerned. This can help avoid apparent differences of opinion.

CalifJim · Answer

Hans51I was confused because of this answer. "It is, I think, raining. Again, the phrase seems less important. The two commas separate it from the rest of the sentence, making it seem parenthetical."I think that here the teacher used the word phrase to refer to 'I think' or do you think that the word phrase here does not refer to 'I think' or do you just think that it might be a misuse or mistake?

No mistake. In ordinary English, where we are not thinking in the terminology of linguistics, any sequential group of words can be called a phrase. I don't think there was any need, in answering your question, to use such linguistically precise terms.

So, in the sentence above, "where we are not", "any sequential group", and "can be called" can all be called phrases.

There's also the expression "rephrasing a sentence", meaning changing the order of words or using different words to make a better sentence. There is no word "reclause (a sentence)".

CJ

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