PHRASES & CLAUSES AND WHY COMMAS ARE IMPORTANT!

WORD CLASSES Every word in the English language belongs to a “class”. It will be one of the following: a noun a verb an adjective an adverb a pronoun a conjunction a determiner (occurs with a noun or noun phrase – e.g. ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘this’, ‘my’, ‘fewer’ etc.) a preposition (usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence – e.g. ‘on’, ‘beneath’, ‘against’, ‘during’)

PHRASES OR CLAUSES We then tend to group words into larger groups known as phrases or clauses.

PHRASES Phrase is the term used for a word or group of words, based on a particular word class. Just as every word can be described according to its word class, so too can a sentence be divided into different types of phrase. Three main types of phrase: Noun phrase (built around a noun) Verb phrase (built around a verb) Adverbial phrase (additional info. relating to place / time / manner or frequency)

PHRASES Copy down the following sentence and for each underlined phrase, state whether it is a noun phrase, a verb phrase or an adverbial phrase: He passed the broken window. She dived into the pool gracefully. They had been shaken by the noise. Tim drove into town twice.

PHRASES He passed the broken window. NOUN She dived into the pool gracefully. ADVERBIAL They had been shaken by the noise. VERB Tim drove into town twice. ADVERBIAL

CLAUSES A clause contains both a verb phrase and other types of phrases. Generally speaking the longer a sentence is, the more clauses it is bound to contain.

TYPES OF CLAUSES Single / independent clause: A phrase or group of phrases that makes sense on its own – e.g. I lingered at the bottom of the road. Coordinate clause: Two clauses of equal status joined by a conjunction – e.g. I shivered in the mist and turned my collar up. Main clause: Like a single clause can form a sentence by itself, but has a subordinate clause added to it (see next definition). Subordinate clause: One that is in some way dependent on another for its meaning (also known as dependent clause). For example: As I did every morning, I looked up at the sky.

THE RULES: A single clause can stand on its own as a sentence. The two parts of a coordinate clause can stand on their own as sentences. The main clause can stand on its own in a sentence. The subordinate / dependent clause cannot stand alone as a sentence.

THE MAIN RULE: ALWAYS use commas to separate subordinate / dependent clauses and main clauses within a sentence!

THE COMMA, Commas mark smaller breaks or pauses than full stops. They must not be used to link two independent statements that could stand alone as sentences (single or main clauses). This creates what is referred to as a COMMA SPLICE – YUCK!

HOW TO AVOID THE COMMA SPLICE This is a smug person. Smug people do not use comma splices ! All you have to do is introduce one of two things after your comma: a connective or a relative pronoun. “This is not a comma splice, because the two main clauses are separated by a comma.” “This was once a comma splice, in which the two main clauses were separated by a comma.”

COMMAS Commas also separate subordinate clauses from main clauses. Subordinate clauses give extra information but aren’t necessary for the sentence to make sense: Anthony, having run fast, was exhausted. Commas are also used to list items. Commas introduce and end direct speech.