Basics of Grammar

Phrases:

These are group of related words that do not contain a subject or a verb or both.

In other words phrase can have a subject, or a verb, but not both. A phrase may have neither a subject nor a verb. It doesn’t have both subject and verb at a time, because this would become sentence, rather than phrase.

Phrases, if separated from the sentence, cannot stand on their own as complete sentences. Sentences may contain phrases in the subject, in predicate, or in both. We have already examined some phrases in our discussion of verbs, adjectives and adverbs, but a review is below along with an introduction to some other phrases:

Noun Phrase

A phrase that contain a noun and any words that modify the noun.

Examine a noun phrase in the following sentence:

The first gold medal from high school hangs in my office now.

Medal is the main subject of the sentence. It is modified by first, gold and from high school. All of these elements combined create the phrase first gold medal from high school. Notice that the phrase cannot stand alone as a sentence.

Prepositional Phrase

A phrase including a preposition with a noun or pronoun. They also may include one or more adjectives.

Prepositional phrases are the most important and most common phrases in English language:

The ship sailed through(prep) the fierce storm, finding port in(prep) the Florida Keys.

Prepositions are always accompanied by prepositional phrase.

Adjective Phrase

A phrase that modifies a noun or a pronoun.

Adjective phrases may contain actual adjectives, or just be a phrase that acts as an adjective:

Jamie(n), the star athlete at my high school(adj), runs every day.

As we learned earlier, adverb phrase are similar.

Adverb Phrase

A phrase that modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb.

Jamie runs(vb) like the wind(adv).

Sentences can contain several different types of phrases:

In the early evening, I often find myself thinking back on the purple sunsets of my childhood.

This sentence contains a noun phrase, verb phrase, and prepositional phrase:

Noun phrase: purple sunsets of my childhood
Verb phrase: thinking back on
Prepositional phrases: in the early evening, of my childhood

Clauses:
Clauses are similar to phrase, but clauses must contain both a subject and a verb but is not a sentence.

There are two types of clauses:

Independent Clause

A clause that could act as a sentence if a period were added to the end. Independent clauses carry the most weight or importance in a sentence.

Dependent Clause

A clause that depends on an independent clause to make sense. Dependent clauses could not stand alone as a sentence, even if a period were added. Dependent clauses carry less weight and importance than an independent clause.

If a dependent clause appears in a sentence, it will always have an independent clause on which the dependent clause depends. Look at an example:

Although he was acquitted of embezzlement charges, Mike lost his job and his home.

Independent clause: Mike lost his job and his home
Dependent clause: Although he was acquitted of embezzlement charges

If we put a period after charges, we create a fragment, not a sentence. This clause depends on the remainder of the sentence in order to make sense.

Dependent clauses function as a noun adjective or adverb.

Dependent clauses often begin with subordinating conjunctions, such as: although, as, because, before, even though, despite, even though, regardless, of, since, so that, unless, which, and while.

The most important piece of information in the previous example sentence, that Mike lost his job and his home, is carried by independent clause. The fact that he was acquitted of the embezzlement charges is in the dependent clause, and is not the main reason for the sentence. This fact is less important.

Dependent clauses do not have to contain a subordinating conjunctions; they simply must have a subject and a verb:

Mr. Flynn, who is a paramedic, helped the woman who had fallen.
(Remember that here ‘who had fallen’ is not a clause; it’s a phrase – noun phrase).

The relative clause, who is a paramedic, contains the relative pronoun who and the verb is. Although the clause cannot make sense without the rest of the sentence, it contains a subject and a verb, thus making it a dependent clause.

An independent clause can be accompanied by a dependent clause, as just demonstrated, or by another independent clause. When two independent clauses separated by a coordinating conjunction, this is called coordination:

The man had a confirmed seat on the flight, but the airline would not let him board the plane.

Conjunction: but
Independent clause: The man had a confirmed seat on the flight
Dependent clause: the airline would not let him board the plane.

In a coordinating sentence, the two independent clauses carry the same weight. It is of equal importance to know that the man had a confirmed seat and that he was denied access to the plane.

We can turn the first independent clause (the man had a confirmed seat on the flight) into a dependent clause and still convey the same meaning, but diminish the importance of the confirmed seat:

Even though the man had a confirmed seat on the flight, the airline would not let him board the plane.

This is called subordinating a clause. It takes on of the clauses and reduce its importance (even though the man had a confirmed seat on the flight), thus increasing the importance of the remaining independent clause (the airline would not let him board the plane). You may encounter a question which requires you to select the correct subordinating clause.