1. Adjectival, adverbial, and nominal
Clauses and Phrases
Adjectival, adverbial, and nominal

2. Don’t Forget! Clause vs phrase
A clause is a group of words that has as a subject and predicate.
A phrase does not.
A phrase is a group of words that lacks either a subject or a predicate.

3. Adjective Clause Modify nouns or pronouns
Adjective clauses tend to begin with (or these are implied)
Who, whom, whose, which, or that
When, where, why
To test for adjective clause, they usually answer these questions:
Which one? What kind?
Because they tend to begin with these relative pronouns or adverbs, they are usually dependent clauses.

4. Where is the adjective clause?
The dog that sat in the swing wanted to be pushed.
The curly labridoodle, whose big, brown eyes pleaded for a push, waited patiently.
The man who put the dog in the swing should be punished.

5. Adjective Phrase Modify nouns or pronouns
Modify the same things the same way, but rather than using a clause, use a group of words (a phrase!)
Like a normal adjective, an adjective phrase can be used before the noun it is modifying (like in the first two examples above) or after the noun it is modifying (like in the last example)
Read more at

6. Where is the adjective phrase?
The dog in the swing wanted to be pushed.
The curly labridoodle, with big, brown eyes, waited patiently.
The man who put the dog in the swing should be punished.

7. Adverbial Clause—contains a subject and a verb
Modifies verbs
Answers these three questions:
How / Why?
When?
Where?
Tend to start with subordinating conjunctions so they are usually DEPENDENT!

8. Where is the adverbial clause?
With his arms at his side, the alligator breached like a dolphin
He shot out of the water after he saw the duck.
He put on a show in a lake that has fresh water

9. Where is the adverbial phrase?
The alligator breached like a dolphin
In three seconds he shot out of the water.
Near the middle of the lake he put on a show.

10. Nominal Clause
Like a noun, a nominal clause names a person, place, thing, or idea.  A nominal clause may function in a sentence as any of the following:
Subject Subject Complement
Appositive Object of a preposition
Direct object             Indirect object
                           

11. Examples During Halloween you can dress like whomever you want.
They argue about how they will pay the bill.
I don’t know who stole my grill.