What makes a "Phrase?"

A Phrase is a group of words that shows something more about a noun or a verb.

Instead of saying just "man", we can say "old man" and  we know that "old" is an adjective that adds more to  "man".  In a similar way, "the dog with the little old man." is an Adjective Phrase you made with a preposition. This time the Adjective Phrase adds more to "dog."

We can also say "The boy ran quickly." As you know, the word "quickly" is an Adverb. But we can also say "The boy ran as quickly as the dog." We have added more to the verb "run" so that is an Adverb Phrase.

You have seen that a sentence has a Subject (does the action) and a Predicate (the action and whoever or whatever is acted upon). Sometimes people see a Phrase and think it is a complete thought. They are not correct. A Phrase DOES NOT have both a Subject and a Predicate.

OK, JUST A WORD OR TWO ON CLAUSES...

IF a group of words in a sentence has both another Subject and another Predicate, that is a Clause. So a Clause is a complete thought with an action and with someone who does that action.

We will talk about kinds of Clauses later, (but) you have already seen Clauses.
In the sentence just above, the word "but" is a Conjunction. Conjunction words like IF, AND, and BUT are used to join together complete thoughts or Clauses.

So now you know (a little about Phrases and Clauses).  Was the last part of that last sentence a Phrase, or a Clause? Why?

End of Lesson F Grammar