Clauses vs. phrases…what's the difference?

1. A phrase is a group of words A phrase itself will not have a subject and a verb. Within a phrase, there may be a subordinate clause , but that clause will be functioning as a noun, adjective or adverb in that phrase A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb Two categories of clauses Independent Subordinate We’ll talk about clauses later. Phrases are first. Clauses vs. phrases…what's the difference?

2. Participial phrases as adjectives • Function: Modify nouns or pronouns • Contain: the phrase and any compliments ( e.g. direct objects) or modifiers (e.g. adverbs, adjectives) • The PrPP and PaPP tell what kind? Or which one? About the word being modified • Location: PrPP or PaPP will appear directly before or after the noun or pronoun it modifies

3. Characteristics of Participial Phrases • Can contain present or past participles • Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled web-work from the eaves. • The tent, illuminated by candle, glowed warmly in the midst of the plain

4. Sentence openers • Whistling, he let the escalator waft him into the still night air. • Amazed at the simplicity of it all, I understood everything as never before.

5. Subject-Verb splits • My father, cautioning me not to work a horse till he had fed fully, said I had plenty of time to eat myself. • Eckels, balanced on the narrow path, aimed his rifle playfully.

6. Sentence closers • The entire crowd in the saloon gathered about me now, urging me to drink. • She called to him, excited. • The magician patted the hand, holding it quietly with a thumb on its blue veins, waiting for life to revive.

7. Punctuation rules • When the PrPP or PaPP begins a sentence (I.e. comes directly before the noun or pronoun it modifies), always separate the phrase from the rest of the sentence with a comma. • When the PrPP or PaPP follows the noun it modifies, separate the phrase from the rest of the sentence with a comma if it’s a nonessential phrase. If the phrase is essential, no comma is needed.

8. Essential or Nonessential? • The student running down the hall slipped on a banana peel. • Carlton, running down the hall, slipped on a banana peel. • The kite blown away by the fierce wind is the only one of ours that remains lost. • Janelle’s kite, blown away by the fierce wind, is the only one of ours that remains lost.

9. PrPPs • Running for his life, Forrest eventually escaped from the young men out for a joyride in their pickup • Forrest, running for his life, eventually escaped from the young men

10. PaPPs • Envied by the fleet-footed Achilles, Hector inspects his worn Nikes and quickly brushes off some dirt. • Hector, envied by the fleet-footed Achilles, inspects his worn Nikes and quickly brushes off some dirt.