Phrases and Clauses

Noun Phrase: A group of words consisting of nouns or pronouns and their modifiers that function as a noun. All the planets aligned surprisingly in an instant.

Verb Phrase: A group of words consisting of verbs working together and that function as a verb. The scientist on the moon will be waiting for the captain's order.

Prepositional Phrase: A group of words that begins with a preposition and ends with a noun, and functions as an adjective or an adverb. The space cowboys were all welcomed aboard the safety ship.

Appositive Phrase: A group of words that include all the words that modify an appositive and function as an adjective - IT MUST BE SURROUNDED BY COMMAS. On Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, the sunset appears blue.

Verbal Phrases: A group of words that begin with a verbal and ends with a noun. ● Gerund Phrase verb ending in -ing that functions as a noun. Traveling through the universe, you may find a planet made of diamonds.

● Participial Phrase word ending in -ing (present participle) or -ed (past participle) that functions as an adjective. NASA employees wanted to see the rocket launch and left the abandoned lab.

● Infinitive Phrase verb preceded by the word “to” (to read, to study, to write) that function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. It was time to write down the mission for tomorrow.

CLAUSES

Clauses – groups of words with BOTH a subject and a verb that function as parts of speech. There are TWO kinds: Independent and Dependent (called “Subordinate”)

INDEPENDENT – CAN stand alone as a complete sentence, known as a simple sentence pattern.

I enjoy sitting on the roof to watch the stars.

DEPENDENT (SUBORDINATE) – CANNOT stand alone as a complete sentence and MUST begin with a SUBORDINATE CONJUNCTION. There are seven (7) kinds:

Noun Clause: Used as the noun in a sentence and may function as a subject, a predicate noun, a direct object, an object of a preposition, an indirect object, or an appositive. The commander checked what he had for weapons.

Adjective Clause: Used to modify a noun in an independent clause. Some adjective clauses begin with an introductory word: This is the planet where we will begin a new station. Some adjective clauses begin with relative pronouns: Mars is the planet that will be close to the beginning of a new

world.

Adverb Clause: Used to modify verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in an independent clause, introduced by a subordinate conjunction and used to indicate time, place, cause, purpose, result, condition, and/or concession. Modifying verbs:

■ The Decepticons retreated from the battle because they were losing. (Purpose)

■ The stars are more beautifully brighter than man made light. Modifying adverbs:

■ The earth contains more oxygen than any other planet.

Relative Clauses: Dependent clause that begins with a relative pronoun.

○ The planet who is closest to the sun will be captive of the sun’s gravity.

○ Elliptical Clauses: Adverb clauses in which part of the clause is omitted.

○ When observing, the scientist never lifted his eyes off the beautiful star.

One shall stand…

○ The fallen spaceship that was attacked by a herd of aliens crashed down.

Nonessential Clauses: Clauses that are NOT necessary to the meaning of the sentence.

○ All worlds, which include every planet and star in the universe, are precious.

And one shall fall…