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What are clauses and phrases? These are the blocks of information that you can add to make your sentences longer while adding extra information about the subject or action of the sentence. In short, phrases are the building blocks to clauses while clauses are the building blocks to more complex sentences.
Understanding these two basic sentence components is essential to knowing how English sentence structure works.
Phrases and clauses are the essential building blocks of meaning in English sentences. For ESL learners, understanding how these structures are formed and how they combine is key to creating more complex and nuanced sentences.
This post will explore what phrases and clauses are, what types there are, as well as how you can use them. By the time you’ve reached the end of this post, you will have a greater understanding of how to extend sentences or make them more complex. So, let’s dive in.
Accretion: Words combining to Phrases:
I have always been fascinated by astronomy and the solar system, especially how it formed. Floating rocks became large enough to attract other (smaller) rocks with its gravity. This process is known as accretion. The Cambridge dictionary defines the concept of accretion as “the gradual increase or growth by adding new layers or parts.”
You can apply this same concept to English phrases and clauses.
Every word in English falls into a part-of-speech classification. The core parts of speech have relationships with modifiers and objects that are bound to them. These relationships are how words come together to form phrases.
The Different Types of Phrases
Think of phrases as groups of words that work together as a unit. They don’t have both a subject and a verb, but they play important roles in sentences. The process of building a phrase is like accretion – individual words join together, gradually building a larger, more meaningful unit.
Here are some common types of phrases:
Noun Phrase
A noun phrase has a noun as the subject of focus along with a determiner, adjectives as direct modifiers, and/or a prepositional phrase or relative clause as the indirect modifier.
Example:
The | Olympic | athletes | from Mexico |
Determiner | Adjective | Noun | Prepositional Phrase |
Verb Phrase
These contain the main verb and any helping verbs to complete its verb tense, any adverbs as direct modifiers, and the object of the verb.
Examples:
nearly | won | all their competitions |
Adverb | Verb | Noun Phrase |
Prepositional Phrase
Prepositional phrases usually express the direction, location, time, sequence, or relationship from one thing or action to another. These begin with a preposition and contain either a pronoun, a noun phrase, or gerund phrase as the object to the preposition.
Examples:
for | me |
Preposition | Pronoun Object |
Full Sentence: You have a message for me.
across | the street |
Preposition | Noun Object |
Full Sentence: His car is parked across the street.
After | discussing the problem |
Preposition | Gerund Object |
Full Sentence: We came to a decision after discussing the problem.
Infinitive Phrase
You build these phrases around a verb in its “base” form with ‘to’ plus the verb. Like verbs, an infinitive can have a “subject of focus and an object for its action. It is used mostly after nouns to provide context about the noun or verb to provide a reason for the action.
Examples:
To save | the day |
Infinitive Verb | Object |
Full sentence: Our best player returned from injury to save the day.
Gerund Phrase
Like an infinitive phrase, you build a gerund phrase around a noun except the noun is in its present participle form (-ing ending). Gerund phrases can have a subject of focus and an object for the action. You use a gerund phrase in place of a noun phrase, especially as an abstract subject or a verbal object to a verb or preposition.
sitting | in the first row |
Gerund Verb | Object |
Full Sentence: You want to avoid sitting in the front row at a comedy show.
Participle Phrase
These are verb-based phrases where the verb is either in present participle form (-ing ending) or past participle form (-ed or irregular past participle). These can add information to the base clause, explaining a result or effect of the base clause’s action, replace conditions, give reasons, or shorten relative clauses.
Past Participle:
Locked out | of my car |
Past Participle | object |
Full sentence: Locked out of my car, I proceeded to call a locksmith for help.
Present Participle:
Following | the interview |
Present Participle | Object |
Full sentence: We discuss each candidate following the interview.
What do the Different Types of Phrases Do in a Sentence?
Phrases perform either the primary piece or supporting piece of a sentence. The primary pieces of a sentence are the subject and predicate. Hence, noun phrases (or gerund phrases) can make up the subject.
On the other hand, a verb phrase is the second core piece that completes the clause or sentence.
What are Adjective Phrases?
The supporting role of a sentence is that of modifiers – adjectives and adverbs. Modifiers describe the main pieces (nouns and verbs).
Therefore, if a phrase’s primary function is to describe a noun, it is an adjective phrase. This is because it is performing the same function that an adjective does – describing the noun.
Modifiers come in two types – direct (which comes before the thing that’s modified) and indirect (which comes after the thing that is modified). Adjectives, then, are direct modifiers that come before nouns whereas adjective phrases come after the noun modified.
Adjective Phrase Examples:
Prepositional phrases and infinitive phrases are the most common adjective modifiers. Here are some examples for you to study:
When
the scene | after the title |
noun | adjective phrase |
for whom
the price | for children |
noun | adjective phrase |
What kind
an ID card | for students |
noun | adjective phrase |
Infinitive
the determination | to win |
noun | adjective phrase |
What are Adverbial Phrases?
Conversely, when a phrase’s primary function is to describe the verb phrase, it is an adverbial phrase. Adverbial phrases generally express the how, where, when, or why of the sentence’s action, and they do so in a specific word order.
These phrases are also mostly prepositional or infinitive phrases as the prepositions express the how, where, and when while the infinitive phrase expresses the how.
Adverbial Phrase Examples:
Now, let’s review some adverbial phrase examples:
How and When
We improved as a team | by doing extra conditioning work | over the summer. |
base clause | how | when |
Where
We opened another shop | in the gallery. |
base clause | where |
When and Why
We hired some extra workers | over the holiday season | to help us fulfill all the Christmas orders. |
base clause | when | why |
From Phrases to Clauses:
Now, the magic happens when we combine a noun phrase (acting as the subject) with a verb phrase. This combination creates a clause. A clause does have both a subject and a verb.
- Example: The student (noun phrase/subject) improved his grade (verb phrase/verb). This is a clause.
Clauses can be further extended by adding more phrases. These additional phrases can tell us how, where, when, or why something happened.
- Example: The student (noun phrase/subject) improved his grade (verb phrase/verb) by taking extra tutoring lessons (adverbial phrase: how) at the youth center (adverbial phrase: where) after school (adverbial phrase: why).
The 2 Distinct Types of Clauses:
There are two main types of clauses:
- Independent Clauses: These can stand alone as a sentence. They express a complete thought. Example: The shop raised the price. This clause has a subject, a verb phrase, and can stand alone.
- Dependent Clauses: These clause types cannot stand alone as a sentence. They begin with a subordinating conjunction and need an independent clause to complete their meaning. Example: If the shop raised the price…This revised example is an incomplete thought and cannot stand alone because of the conjunction (if). For it to be a complete thought, you need an independent clause to complete the thought. Example: If the shop raised the price, fewer people would shop there.
Combining Clauses: Building Complex Sentences:
Just as words combine to form phrases, and phrases combine to form clauses, clauses can combine to form more complex sentences. This can be done in two main ways:
- Coordination: Joining two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, so, yet, for, nor). These clauses are grammatically equal. Example: I went to the store, and I bought some milk.
- Subordination: Joining a dependent clause to an independent clause. These clauses are grammatically unequal. Example: Although it was late, I went for a walk.
There are five types of dependent clauses which include:
- Clauses of contrast (although): They won the match although their best player was injured.
- Clauses of Reason (because): They won the match because the referee made a controversial decision.
- Clauses of Purpose (so that): They won the match so that they could avoid being winless for the whole season.
- Clauses of Sequence (before, after, until): They won the match after the other team failed to arrive on time.
- Conditional Clauses (if): If their best player had been fit, they would have won the match.
Why This Matters for ESL Learners:
Understanding phrases and clauses is essential for:
- Constructing more complex and varied sentences.
- Improving your reading comprehension.
- Writing more sophisticated and nuanced English.
- Avoiding grammatical errors in more complex sentence structures.
Conclusion: Phrases and Clauses are the information Blocks that Add Meaning to Your Sentences
By understanding the process of accretion – how words form phrases, and how phrases form clauses – you can unlock the secrets of English sentence structure.
Mastering these information blocks is a crucial step in your journey to English fluency. In our next post, we’ll explore the different types of sentences and how they are constructed from clauses.
English Grammar Explained
For ESL and non-native English learners, basic sentence structure is often overlooked by English courses, favoring teaching verb tenses instead. Yet, it is the sentence structure that provides the foundation from which you then learn the English verb tenses. For example, in this post here, you learned some adverbials of time or purpose. These kind of phrases have a direct influence on things like verb tenses. It's time to do a grammar reset and fill in your gaps of English sentence building. English Grammar Explained will systematically build your understanding of how English sentences work. Pick up your copy today!
