PHRASES AND CLAUSES

REVIEW

A sentence needs a subject and predicate (the action of the subject)

Modifiers modify nouns and verbs Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs

PHRASESGROUPS OF RELATED WORDS

TYPES OF PHRASES

Prepositional

Appositive

Absolute

Verbal

Infinitive

Gerund

Participle

PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES

Preposition + object + modifiers

After school, we went to the football game.

APPOSITIVE PHRASES

Nouns that rename another noun.

It’s like saying “I’m positive this is so”

Examples:

My mother, a lovely woman, baked cupcakes for my birthday.

My mother is concerned about her horse, Chief.

ABSOLUTE PHRASES

Noun + participle + modifier

Modifies an entire sentence instead of just a word or phrase

Examples:

Legs quivering, our old dog Gizmo dreamed of chasing squirrels.

Her arms folded across her chest, Ms. Knox warned the class about the importance of homework.

VERBAL PHRASES

Verb forms not used as verbs

Retain many properties of verbs by taking objects, having subjects, or being modified by adverbs

Types

Infinitive

Gerund

Participle

INFINITIVE PHRASE

To + verb

Can be used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb

Example:

To read these papers will take a long time.

I am ready to write the paper now.

GERUND PHRASE

-ing form of a verb

Used as a noun

Examples:

Walking is a healthy exercise.

Proper shoes are needed for comfortable walking.

GERUND

Walk ing

is healthy

PARTICIPLE PHRASE

Noun + participle

The participle (past, present, or perfect participle) is used as an adjective

Examples: The girl talking on the phone is Mary.

The report, accurately written, was approved by him.

PARTICIPLE

reportthe accurately

was approvedby him

INDEPENDENT/DEPENDENT CLAUSES

CLAUSE

A group of related words which contain a subject and a verb

A sentence is always a clause, but a clause is not always a sentence.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE

Meets the qualifications of a clause

Makes sense

Example: She had not finished the paper and was sure to get a low grade.

DEPENDENT CLAUSE

Definition

Meets the qualifications of a clause

Does not make sense and is regarded as a fragment

Must be accompanied by an independent clause

Example: Because she had not finished the paper.

Types

Noun clause

Adjective clause

Adverbial clause

NOUN CLAUSE

Dependent clauses used like nouns

Example: That she had not finished the paper was the reason for her low grade.

I know what I will do today.

She wondered about what she will do next.

ADJECTIVE CLAUSE

Used to point out or describe any noun or pronoun in the sentence

A relative pronoun always introduces an adjective clause Who, whom, whose, which, that

May be restrictive or nonrestrictive The car which is parked by the curb belongs to me.

The car, which is parked by the curb, belongs to me.

ADVERBIAL CLAUSE

Used as adverbs

Introduced by subordinate conjunctions After, although, as, as if, because, before, if, since, so that, that, unless,

until, when, where, while

When it begins a sentence, it is set off by commas.

Example Because he was late, she was angry.

She was angry because he was late.