CLAUSE AND PHRASES

Clauses and Phrases To understand punctuation, it is helpful to understand the difference between a phrase and a clause. I. A phrase is a collection of words that may have nouns or verbals, but it does not have a subject doing a verb. The following are examples of phrases: leaving behind the dog smashing into a fence before the first test after the devastation between ignorance and intelligence broken into thousands of pieces because of her glittering smile In these examples above, you will find nouns (dog, fence, test, devastation, ignorance, intelligence, thousands, pieces). You also have some verbals (leaving, smashing), but in no case is the noun functioning as a subject doing a predicate verb. They are all phrases. II. A clause is a collection of words that has a subject that is actively doing a verb. The following are examples of clauses: since she laughs at diffident men I despise individuals of low character when the saints go marching in Obediah Simpson is uglier than a rabid raccoon because she smiled at him. In the examples above, we find either a noun or a pronoun that is a subject (bold-print and red) attached to a predicate verb (underlined and purple) in each case: