Clauses and Phrases
Clauses consist of a Subject and Verb and sometimes a subordinating conjunction.
| Roger went to Japan last summer.
After he went to Japan, Roger went to Korea. Roger is the man who went to Japan last summer. Whoever went to Japan had a great time. |
(Independent clause)
(Adverbial clause) (Relative clause) (Noun clause) |
Phrases are groups of words without a complete subject or verb.
| After Japan, Roger went to Korea.
After going to Japan, Roger went to Korea. Having gone to Japan, Roger went to Korea. |
(Prepositional phrase)
(Participial phrase) (Participial phrase) |
Some clauses can be reduced to phrases by omitting certain words:
| The man who is going to Japan is Roger.
The man going to Japan is Roger. “When he was traveling to Japan, Roger met Lori. When traveling to Japan, Roger met Lori. When he was in Japan, Roger ate sashimi. When in Japan, Roger ate sashimi. In Japan, Roger ate sashimi. |
(Relative clause)
(Reduced) (Adverbial clause) (Reduced) (Adverbial clause) (Reduced) (Prepositional phrase) |
See also:
Grammar: Relative Clauses
Grammar: Sentence Elements
Grammar: Participle Phrases
The Clause (from Grammar Bytes)
The Modifier (from Grammar Bytes)
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