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Sentences,Clauses and Phrases

How to Know One When You See One

Laurie Miller | George Mason University | Last updated April 2013

http://mason.gmu.edu/~llmillerhttp://www.gmu.edu/http://www.gmu.edu/http://mason.gmu.edu/~llmiller

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Basic Grammar Terminology

To get started, here is a basic review of grammarterminology.

Part of Speech Function or "job" Example

Verb action or state Peterate dinner.

Noun thing or person The dog watched the

squirrel.

Adjective describes a noun The hungry dog watched

the greysquirrel.

Adverb describes a verb,

adjective or adverb

The hungry dog intently

watched the grey squirrel.

http://grammar.englishclub.com/verbs.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/nouns.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/adjectives.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/adverbs.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/adverbs.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/adjectives.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/nouns.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/verbs.htm

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Basic Grammar Terminologycontinued

Part of Speech Function or "job" Example

Pronoun replaces a noun Heate dinner.

Preposition links a noun to

another word

I gave a bonetothe dog.

Conjunction joins clauses or

words

Peter read the paperand

listened to the radio whilehe ate dinner.

http://grammar.englishclub.com/pronouns.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/prepositions.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/conjunctions.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/conjunctions.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/prepositions.htmhttp://grammar.englishclub.com/pronouns.htm

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What Makes a Sentence?

Peter ate dinner.

Subject = noun,pronoun ornoun thing(such as agerund or noun

phrase) thatdoes an actionor experiencesa state of being

Verb =expressesthe actionor stateofthe subject

Object =noun orpronounthatreceives

the actionof the verb

Peter ate dinner.Peterate dinner.Peteratedinner.

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This is also a sentence

Peter is happy.

Subject Verb Complement

A complement is a great deal like an object, but it differs inthat is does not receive the action a verb. Instead it isthe subject.

Complements can be nouns or adjectives. The key tounderstanding them is understanding the verbs that theyfollow.

Peter is happy.Peteris happy.Peterishappy.

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Verbs that take complements

(thank you very much!)

Intensive Verbssuch as be and feeldo not haveaction moving out of them to affect a noun.Instead they hold action within them.

Peter threw the bone. Peter is happy.

The verb threwis NOT an intensive verb (theaction moves out of it to affect the object).

The verb isIS an intensive verb: Peterand happyare the same thing, so the mathematical equal signbetter represents the action of this intensive verb.

Look at the images above the verbs in the followingsentences:

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Common Intensive English Verbs

be

feel

seem

became

Remember that these verbscan be followed by nouns or adjectives.Either way, the words that follow intensive verbs are or equal thesubjects before the verb that is how you can identify a complement.

NOTE: this type of verb can also be called linking or stative verbs.

EXAMPLE:

Peter is a teacher.

Peter is happy.

Noun as a complement

Adjective as a complement

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And this is also a sentence

Peter was in the kitchen.

Subject = noun,pronoun or nounthing (such as agerund or nounphrase) that does

an action orexperiences a stateof being

Verb =expressesthe actionor stateofthe subject

Adverbial =adverb orgroup ofwords thattells

where,when, whyor how theverbhappened.

Peter was in the kitchen.Peterwas in the kitchen.Peterwasin the kitchen.

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More Adverbial Examples

Peter was a student last year.

Peter drive quickly.

Peter went to New York to visit his aunt.

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Sentence Components

S + V / O

So, we can symbolize the basic components of asentence in the following way:

Where:

S= subject (a noun or pronoun that does an action)V= verb (the action itself)/ = optional some verbs do not need an O, C or A

O = object (a noun or pronoun that receives an action)C = complement (an adjective or noun that is the subject)A = adverbial (an adverbial that tells more about the action)

orCorA

http://classweb.gmu.edu/llmiller/HAW/optionals.ppt

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But heres a new question, is this a

sentence?

Peter ate dinner while he watched TV.

It is the sentence from anearlier slide (Peter ate dinner) with additionalinformation added now we know that Peter wasdoing two things at once, eating dinner and

watching TV.

Lets take a look at the components of this newsentence.

Yes, this is a sentence.

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Peteratedinner while hewatched TV.

Subject

Verb

Object

We have the original subject Peter with its verb ateand its object dinner.

But the sentence continues with a second subject,this time he, a second verb, watched, and a secondobject, TV.

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Clause

Peteratedinner. Hewatched TV.

Our one sentence is basically two mini sentenceshooked together by the word while.

while hewatched TV.

Mini sentences, units ofSV/O,CorA, within asentence are called clauses.

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Clausecontinued

Peter ate dinner while he watched TV.

This sentence is composed of two clauses.

But we can still add more to this sentence.

1 21

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After exercising, Peter ate dinnerwhile he watched TV.

A bigger sentence

In addition to the two clauses we are familiarwith, this sentence has the added words afterexercising.

The words after exercising work together togive extra information about the clauses, butthey do not form a clause. They form a

phrase.

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Phrase

One way to define a phrase is to say it is a group ofwords that belong together in terms of meaning butdonot have both a subject and a verb.

Phrase = a group of words that acts like one word

PhraseS + V

Another way to think of a phrase is to think ofhow it works within a sentence. When you think

of a phrase this way, you can define it as:

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Phraseexample

Here is a phrase:

1. the gym at the end of the street

It functions as the subjectof thesentence andsubjects are nouns.

It acts like a nounThe gym at the end of the streetis new.

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Phrasea phrase within a phrase

Look carefully and you will find a phrase within the phrase:

This phrase gives more informationabout the noun, thus acting like anadjective

This phrase within the first phrase acts

like an adjectiveThe gymat the end of the streetis new.

Phrases can have phrases in them.

the gym at the end of the streetthe gym at the end of the street

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Phrasecontinued testing to see if you have a phrase

The second phrase, ,at the end of the street can bereplaced with a one word adjective such as large.

The large gym is new.

at the end of the street

large

This replacement of the group of words by one worddemonstrates the idea that a phrase is a group of wordsacting as one word.

The gym at the end of the streetis new.

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It also serves as a way to classify phrases. This part ofthe phrase that holds its function within the greatersentence is called the head.

In English, the head is often the first word of the phrase.

Phrasetesting - continued

The one word that a phrase can be reduced to lets youknow its function within the sentence.

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Prepositional phrase with a preposition as head

(e.g. in love, over the rainbow)

Noun phrase with a noun as head(e.g. the black cat, a cat on the mat)

Verb phrase with a verb as head

(e.g. eat cheese,jump up and down)

Adjectival phrase with an adjective as head (e.g. full of toys)

Adverbial phrase with adverb as head (e.g. very carefully)

Phrases are be classified by the type of head they take:

Examples from: http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/phrase

Phrasenaming phrases

http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Prepositional%20phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/prepositionhttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Noun%20phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/nounhttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Verb%20phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/verbhttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/adjectivehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/adverbhttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/adverbhttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/adjectivehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/verbhttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Verb%20phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/nounhttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Noun%20phrasehttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/prepositionhttp://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/Prepositional%20phrase

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Putting it all together

Sentences are composed of clauses and phrases.Some sentences have only one clause and nophrase:

Peter atedinner.

Others have two or more clauses:

Because Peteratedinner while hewatchedTV,

hegotindigestion.

1 2

3

3

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Putting it all togethercontinued

Other sentences have clauses and phrases.

After exercising at the gym across

the street, Peteratedinner in the

kitchen while hewatchedTV.

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Using Clauses and Phrases

Once identifying clauses and phrases becomeseasy for you, you will begin to notice how goodwriters put their sentence together.

Additionally, once you become comfortable findingclauses and phrases in writing, you can begin towork with the punctuation rules for correctly andeffectively putting clauses and phrases together.

For now, simply test out your knowledge ofsentences, clauses and phrases.