Conventions:

Clauses and Phrases

A complete sentence must have a subject, a matching verb, and express a complete thought.

Phrase: A group of words that is missing either a subject, the matching verb, or both.

Examples: the ancient oak tree (missing a verb) hitting the window (missing a subject

and verb) on a jet plane (missing a subject and

verb)

Because a phrase is missing one of the two requirements for a complete sentence, it is considered a fragment.

There are a variety of different types of phrases (e.g. prepositional phrase, adjective phrase, adverb phrase, verbal phrases, etc.), which we will look at later this year.

Clause: A group of related words that has both a subject and a verb that matches it

Independent Clauses: present complete ideas and can stand by themselves as sentences because they contain a subject and a verb that matches it

Examples: I went to the movies. You washed the dishes.

Dependent Clauses: cannot stand by themselves as sentences

(they depend on another clause to complete the thought)

Example: After Stan went to the movies Since you have been so good

Even though a dependent clause contains a subject and a matching verb, it also has an additional word at the beginning of the clause that makes you need more information.

These words are called subordinating conjunctions.

The subordinate conjunction provides a necessary transition between the two ideas in the sentence.  

List of common SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS used in English language:

after

although

as

because

before

even if

even though

if

in order that

once

provided that

rather than

since

so that

than

that

though

unless

until

when

whenever

where

whereas

wherever

whether

while

why

PHRASE or CLAUSE?

 Is there a subject? NO= Phrase      YES= Is there a complete verb?   NO= Phrase         YES=Does the verb express a complete

thought?   NO= Dependent Clause

YES= Independent Clause