Phrases and Clauses

Front

What is a phrase?

Back

A phrase is a group of words that does not contain a subject-verb pair and does not express a complete thought.

Front

What is an independent clause?

Back

An independent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.

Front

What is a dependent clause?

Back

A dependent clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought.

Front

Example of an independent clause.

Back

"Someone is coming." This is an independent clause because it has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.

Front

Example of a dependent clause.

Back

"Although I am tired." This is a dependent clause because it has a subject and a verb but does not express a complete thought.

Front

What is the difference between a phrase and a clause?

Back

A phrase does not have a subject-verb pair and does not express a complete thought, while a clause does have a subject-verb pair.

Front

Can a dependent clause stand alone as a sentence?

Back

No, a dependent clause cannot stand alone as a sentence because it does not express a complete thought.

Front

What is an example of a phrase?

Back

"In the garden" is a phrase because it does not contain a subject and a verb.

Front

What punctuation is often used to separate independent clauses?

Back

A comma is often used before a coordinating conjunction (like 'and', 'but', 'or') to separate independent clauses.

Front

What is a complex sentence?

Back

A complex sentence is a sentence that contains one independent clause and at least one dependent clause.