Clauses, Phrases, and
Sentence Types
Hurray!
A clause
 A clause has a subject and a verb.
An independent clause
 Can stand alone as a complete
sentence. It has one subject and at
least one verb.
“Mary cried.”
A dependent clause
 Needs to be attached to an
independent clause.
 It cannot stand alone as a sentence
because it includes a subordinate
conjunction or a relative pronoun.
“Because her parrot died.”
Some subordinate conjunctions
 although, as, as if, as long as, as
though, because, before, even
though, if, in order that, once, since,
so that, though, unless, until, when,
whenever, where, whereas,
wherever, whether, while.
Relative pronouns

who, what, whom, whoever,
whomever, whose, which, whichever,
whatever, that
A simple sentence
 One independent clause
“Mary cried.”
A compound sentence
 Two independent clauses joined by a
coordinating conjunction: (for, and,
nor, but, or, yet, so)
“The parrot died, and Mary cried.”
A complex sentence
 One independent and one dependent
clause, in any order.
“Mary cried because her parrot died.”
Write a simple sentence.
Write a compound sentence.
Write a complex sentence.
Write a compound-complex sentence.
Write one simple, one compound, and one
complex sentence. Identify each.
A phrase
 A group of words that does not
include both a subject and a verb.
A prepositional phrase
 A preposition and its object.
 “The dog jumped over the lazy cat.”
 “Over the lazy cat, the dog jumped.”
Some prepositions
 about, above, across, after, against,
along, among, around, at, before,
behind, below, beneath, beside,
between, by, down, during, except,
for, from, in, in front of, inside,
instead of, into, like, near, of, off, on,
on top of, onto, out of, outside, over,
past, since, through, to, toward,
under, underneath, until, up, upon,
with, within, without.
A participial phrase
 Present or past participle that
modifies a subject in an attached
clause.
 “Swearing to buy her ice cream, the
man begged his daughter to come
down from the tree.”
 “Having sworn to buy her ice cream,
the man coaxed his daughter down
from the tree.”
An infinitive phrase
 Infinitive verb “to ___” that modifies
a subject in an attached clause or
acts as a noun itself.
 “To stop his daughter’s crying, the
man bought her ice cream.”
 “To go to the Olympics was Sean’s
only dream.”
Write one sentence
that begins with a
prepositional
phrase.
Write one sentence
that begins with an
infinitive phrase.
Write one sentence that begins
with a participial phrase.
Write one sentence that includes
a prepositional, participial, or
infinitive phrase and identify it.
Write one sentence that includes
a prepositional, participial, or
infinitive phrase and identify it.